


Gravity of You

by DeathViolinist, Star_Crossed_Aliens



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cussing, Explicit Language, M/M, Mutual Pining, at least it will eventually, includes info from all seasons, klance, pining oblivious idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 10:28:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15705393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathViolinist/pseuds/DeathViolinist, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Crossed_Aliens/pseuds/Star_Crossed_Aliens
Summary: Lance and Keith, two Paladins who always seem to be at odds with each other. Their differences seem to be keeping them apart, unable to set those differences aside and become friends. What happens when they discover they have more in common with each other than they thought? Through trials and tribulations, the two have no one else to turn to except each other. Will they get caught in each others' gravity and form bonds stronger than before? Or will they push each other farther away?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this work is based off a rp I have done with a very close friend of mine. This means that there will be two different styles of writing that combine to make this fic possible. It is unbeta-ed so please let me know if there are any mistakes that need to be fixed

_‘Its nearly two in the morning, I’m guessing.’_

Lance leaned his head against the wide window that overlooked the vast darkness outside. Far off stars twinkled. The glass his forehead stuck to was cold and slightly smudged with what he hoped was just fingerprints. The dead end hallway he occupied was quiet and dimly lit with blue lights. A system Allura and Coran installed to not only comfort them but to alert the Paladins on what time of day it was back on Earth. How long had it been since he started coming out here? The answer was too long.

In the beginning, Lance found this space by roaming around by himself when his thoughts were too much to handle at night or just really whenever. It didn’t matter was time of day it was, his mind would drift to unwanted territory.

Right now though, his gut lurched, twisting into an unsettling knot as anxiety too ahold. Lance pulled his legs to his chest as best he could while perched on the window pane. He missed his family, his annoying cousins that always got into his belongings just to get a rise out of him, his Mama’s cooking, playing his his younger siblings, fighting for the bathroom. He missed it all. He missed the beach, the warm sand between his toes and the waves that licked at his ankles, begging him to just jump in. He missed the green grass, the smell and feel of rain against his skin, the blue skies and white fluffy clouds.

Blue eyes prickled with tears.mThe brunet quickly rubbed them dry before the liquid had a chance to fall and become worse. He didn’t want the others to notice that he had been crying, it was bad enough his face masks only did so much for the bags under his eyes. Lance was positive his companions had noticed those based of the concerned looks they would throw his way.

 _‘I’ll have to step up my game soon_.’

The boy sighed at the thought and closed his eyes, reaching out for Blue. Her presence always comforted him and she was always there for him no matter the circumstances. Lance felt the familiar purr vibrate his entire being, his lips quirked at the corner as he reopened his eyes. This was real. All of it, and the only was home was to defeat Zarkon and his Empire that ruled the universe.

A wave of determination rolled through him, drowning out the anxiety, and Blue’s purr grew louder, almost sounding more like a growl with her approval of his new found goal. That’s right, they’ll defeat Zarkon. Lance will introduce his whole family to his new one, his space family. He’ll drag each and everyone of them down there to Varadero Beach and by god the will enjoy themselves.

 _‘Even Keith, that loser,’_ the thought pulled the tiniest hints of a smile to the Cuban’s face, but it also brought on a new concern. His sneaky feelings for the Red Paladin. Sure, he was good at hiding behind the so called rivalry and fake smiles, but it _ached._ His heart burned in his chest by just thinking about his one sided crush.

Right now wasn’t the time to think about that, one worry at a time. Lance stood up and pressed his fingers against the cool glass, eyes narrowed. Yes, they’ll defeat Zarkon. Even if it takes a dozen tries to do so. He will see his family, and Earth again. He will protect the people he loved most. Lance turned away and started heading back to the safety and warmth of his room.

When morning came, Lance was already up, dressed, and headed towards the training deck, knowing he’d find a certain mulleted man there.

 

Keith, originally had gone to bed right after what passed for dinner nowadays - food goo of an almost sickly green color, though this time it had a vague taste of something resembling chicken - but after waking up around what was roughly midnight back on Earth, back _home_ , he sighed to himself and headed or the command bridge. The raven was grateful for the solitude, seeing as how everyone else was asleep at this time, and he used this time to observe the strange and unidentifiable constellations that swarmed around the Castle of Lions. Some of which had a vague resemblance to the star patterns that were almost impossible to see as a child on Earth, but now were near impossible to miss with how brightly they shown.

Typically after waking from a nightmare, he would head straight for the training deck, but the dream that startled him awake left the Red Paladin trembling, hands shaking and unsteady, latching onto his body as he hugged himself. It had been a slow venture to make it from his room to the command bridge, but the small bedroom had felt suffocating and he needed to get out immediately. So he shuffled down the hallway on wobbly legs until he practically collapse into his unofficially assigned chair on the bridge, curling into himself as if on the defense to make himself appear smaller to the unknown enemy.

Violet eyes took to staring absently out into the vast darkness before him, gaze focused but unseeing as he fought the instinctual urge to frantically, _fearfully_ glance around the command bridge for an invisible threat.

It took, what felt like a few moments to calm his agitated nerves and hypersensitive senses, but in reality was almost two hours, and probably would have been longer had a certain temperamental lion not interfered. Keith had almost cried out in fright at the warm sensation of a conscious that what not his own nudging at his mind, but a soft purr like rumble quickly began easing the slight panic he fell into. He closed his eyes, letting Red's warmth burn pleasantly under every inch of his skin, a deep sigh rattling its way out of his lungs as the tension in his body sagged; the raven sent grateful thoughts towards his lion with a small smile as he stood up and stretched, releasing the last bit of tension from his body as his spine crackled and popped.  
  
Keith then made his way to the hanger a little while later, making it roughly three in the morning when he simply sat atop of one of Red's giant mental paws and just meditated, letting his and his Lion's mind become one, sharing memories and opinions of the various members of their little makeshift family.

The mullet haired male stirred from his spot about thirty minutes before the rest of the team would even be thinking of waking up -minus Shiro and his die hard Garrison habits of early mornings- and bid Red a good morning and a brief farewell then trudged his way to the training deck. Bayard in one hand and trusty knife in the other as he called for the training program to start, beginning on level two where he last left off and once again tried to train himself to get used to wielding two blades in battle.

 

Lance poked his head through the door as it silently slid open. Yup, it looked like Keith just began too. He quietly entered the deck and stood off to the side, his shoes and socks were missing in favor of bare-feet and his jacket was back in his room. He barely slept and what little sleep he did get was good enough for the bags under his eyes to lessen. Blue's presence became known once more, wishing him luck and giving him courage for what was to come. Leaned against the wall he watched Keith's movements like a hawk, his elder brother used to take on nature walks and they made a game out of finding hidden animals and stalking them to the point that they could practically touch them, so to say his eyesight and silent steps weren’t superb in the least was an under exaggeration in his opinion. He cataloged Keith's footwork and hand movements just as the gladiator fell to the ground, useless. It pulled Lance out of his thoughts just long enough to make himself known, he cleared his throat, and waited for the black haired male to realize he was no longer alone.

Lance then realized how nervous he actually was. This was Keith, perfect Keith, there was no way he would help in his combat abilities... Right? What if he snorted and turned him away? Proving just how useless he truly was? Blue growled, warning him to stray away from those hideous thoughts. He listened and waited patiently.

 

Keith glared at the fallen gladiator, eyes narrowed almost spitefully at the machine as his breath came in shallow pants. In all honesty, he had just managed to get a lucky shot in at the right spot that took down the bot, though he was sure his ribs  and various other parts of his body where covered or would be in the next few hours, with bruises or various coloring. The raven had to keep himself from physically jumping at the sound of someone clearing their throat, nerves on edge as the adrenaline continued pumping through his veins.

Violet eyes lost some of their heat, possibly looking relieved at the sight of the brunette and his shoulders sagged slightly as he sheather his knife and returned the bayard to its resting form, "What are you doing up so early...and here of all places?" Keith asked, tone rather soft but still incredulous as he stepped closer to his fellow Paladin.

 

Lance mentally winced when he saw how rigged Keith's body went at the sound of him clearing his throat. Honestly if there was an easier way to alert the Red Paladin of his presence he would of opted for that. But that would possibly mean being hit by the gladiator and he wasn't up for that just yet.

When he saw Keith physically relax Lance allowed his breath to escape his lips, barely registering he was holding it in the first place. The brunette began to fiddle with his fingers, twiddling his thumbs and scratching at the side of his knuckles; a nervous habit that was hard to break.

Blue eyes darted from side to side, a tad afraid to ask such a simple question. But he steeled his walls and fixed his determined gaze onto Keith's, blue eyes locking onto violet ones, ".... Teach me hand to hand combat..." his voice just barely above a whisper, but it seemed to echo within the silent room.

 

Keith tilted his head in confusion as he waiting for Lance to speak, a surprising bout of patience when he caught the nervous fidgeting of the other man's hands. The raven's breath caught in his throat at the question and he could feel an embarrassed flush of heat rush to his cheeks, the pale red color even crossing the bridge of his nose.

"Y-you want me to teach you...? Surely Shiro would be a better option, I mean he practically has the ingrained ability to teach people things. I'm no good at teaching, everything just happens for me, I wouldn't even know where to begin," he stumbled out, quickly diverting his gaze from those captivating blue eyes.

Keith, although rather helpless when it came to social relations, knew it would be a terrible idea to be alone with the Blue Paladin for an extended amount of time. He had finally confided in Red not that long ago to try and figure out why his heart would suddenly start racing when he and Lance would make eye contact, but her answer had not been what he was expecting or wanting to hear. Keith was finding it harder and harder to keep his facade together, especially now that his nightmares were getting worse and the first person he wanted to see was Lance; something about the brunette set Keith's nerves at ease almost faster than anything else.

 

Nearly caught off guard by the beautiful shade of red that graced Keith's features- nope not today gay thoughts- Lance almost crumbled at Keith's response but it did make more sense. Shiro could teach well and had the most experience in fighting but Shiro would most likely go easy on the Blue Paladin, possibly pity him. With Keith? Lance knew the other hated him, or at least held a general dislike toward him, plus Keith would never go easy on anyone. Friend or foe.

Lance kept his walls secure and Blue provided her warmth in the back of his mind; willing him to continue.

The brunette shoved his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched in dismay, "I guess you're right... You just seemed like the better option. At least then I would have a chance of kicking your butt into the next galaxy." his tone held a slight tease, Lance wanted him to take the bait, he wanted to learn hand to hand combat, from Keith, the man who stole his heart years ago at the Garrison and the man who Lance knew would never back down from a challenge... At least he hoped, "you chicken?"

 

Keith frowned at the way Lance's shoulders hunched down and his fist clenched around the handle of his bayard at the teasing. His eyes narrowed in a heated gaze as he tossed the weapon to the floor a little ways away from them. "You couldn't beat me if your life depended on it," he practically growled out. There weren't many things Keith was actually confident about, but hand to hand combat was one of them. "If anyone is the chicken here, it is you."

Red seemed to be trying to get her paladin's attention to try and calm him down, but the raven had blocked her out, nerves sparking with agitation as he observed the hands- annoying blue eyed male in front of him, ready to attack at a moments notice. Keith could feel the start of anger coming from his lion, but it was pushed to the back of his mind, "If you want to learn, show me what you got," he taunted, hand resting on his hip sassily.

 

Lance couldn't help but raise a single eyebrow at Keith's retort. Lance literally instigated this whole scene in the first place, how does that make him chicken? Blue let out warning growl, her paladin did not need to overexert himself- or fall prey to the Red Paladin- especially with the lack of sleep. Blue eyes followed Keith's hand that rested on his hip before the snapped back into place, staring into pools of violet. Lance broke into a smile, a genuinely pleased smile that could light up even the darkest of rooms.

"Feisty in the mornings aren’t ya?" he poked before he took two steps forward and began circling Keith, to anyone else it looked as if Keith was wide open but Lance knew better. The Red Paladin was alert, fast, and incredibly strong for his lithe form. Hell Lance wouldn’t be surprised if Keith was shredded under that black shirt. The brunette shook those thoughts away before he lunged, fist pulled back and aimed at Keith's cheek only to end up completely missing and tripping over Keith's outstretched leg.

Lance fell to the ground with a soft  "oof". It was... Quite obvious Lance didn’t know the first thing about hand to hand combat... Nor could he form a proper fist. But he was quick and those long legs were an advantage.. If he knew how to use them. Lance could hear his Blue laugh in amusement and sympathy.

 

Violet eyes widened slightly in shock at the sight of Lance's smile. Keith really has to steel himself in order to keep any more heat from gathering in his cheeks at such a pure sight, but it didn't stop the way his heart skipped a few beats.

Though at the light teasing, a faint smile pulled at Keith's lips, he turned his head to follow the Blue Paladin, making sure to keep him within sight at all times. At the sudden lunge, the raven was quick to redirect the punch away from his face as he poked his leg out, stifling a light laugh at the way Lance landed on the ground. Keith rested his hand on his hip yet again as he smiled smugly down at the brunette, "Not so good at physical aim are ya? Maybe you should just stick to long distance shots," he joked, violet eyes alight with mirth.

 

Lance rolled onto his back, limbs outstretched as he took his time to collect his thoughts.

_‘This is gonna be a long day’_

The Cuban looked at Keith, noting how smug he looked, Lance scowled, "Shut it Kogane! You started out just like me before you gained experience. I never fought before. Only wrestled with kids and nerf wars, ya know?" Lance placed his hands behind his head and pushed off with his feet; a backward roll that got him to his feet in a matter of seconds.  He stood up and dusted off his shirt and jeans before directing his gaze at Keith, scowl gone and replaced with a thin line for his mouth. He spoke again, a twinge of nervousness and exaggerated hand movements, "just teach me the basics or something! Until i get it down at least?"

Lance's blue eyes lit up and lips quirked at the corners, "and it's not like you could master a firearm anyway," he shot back, enjoying the playful banter they had going for them. It was nice. Not like their usual heated comments and harsh words.

 

Keith pursed his lips at the mention if nerf wars, sure he had heard of them before, but in all honestly he had no idea what nerf was or how you could have a war with it. It was just another thing that left a hollow feeling in his chest. The raven shook his head to clear away thoughts of that faraway planet before focusing his attention back on Lance, giving a slightly impressed nod of his head at the roll that got the brunette back on his feet.

"Alright, I guess the easiest way is to start off with making sure you have the correct stance. It needs to be balanced but feel comfortable as well, something that feels natural to you, though it might feel strange at first until you get used to it," Keith said and circled around the taller teen, "I wouldn't even try to handle a firearm, it takes too much planning."

The Red Paladin sighed quietly to himself before coming to a stop behind Lance, reaching out and placing his hands on his shoulders, "Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and bend your knees like you are lowering into a defensive position," he said and gently pressed down on the other male's shoulders.

 

Lance contemplated his use with firearms. He never really thought about it. Just fired whenever he felt it was time to fire, guess you could say he followed his gut sometimes.

All thoughts were pushed aside when he felt hands on his shoulders, Keith's hands, his mind happily supplied for him as the tips of his ears turned pink. His body relaxed against the weight, he felt safe and warmth spreading throughout his body - Lance cleared his thoughts - with the pressure he followed Keith's instructions. Feet shoulder width apart and knees bent slightly. He furrowed his brow, feeling a little silly with the position he adjusted his dominate leg and slid it backward a tad. Enough to be comfortable and remain in the defensive stance, "like this?"

 

Keith withdrew his hands and took a few steps back to observe the stance, "Almost there," he said and resumed his place at Lance's back, hands gentle in the way he eased the Blue Paladin's back into a slight curve and used one foot to nudge Lance's front foot a little farther apart, "How does that feel?" He asked and moved to stand in front of the brunette.

The raven was perhaps taking advantage of his situation, being more hands on than he probably needed to be, but it gave him a great opportunity to simply have contact with Lance, feeling the heat that radiated off the Cuban's skin even through his shirt. He may have also been taking the chance to just study the other teen, from the way that brown hair curled just slightly at the ends to the way faint freckles dusted the sun kissed skin, at least the skin that was exposed anyways.

 

When Keith pulled away Lance found himself sorely wishing he'd return. The feel of the other's gentle hands on his body - even if clothed - made his heart flutter. He turned back to look at his pose before looking back at Keith with a toothy grin, "Still comfy. Do I need to pose this stance each time? Oo! What if I get so good that I don’t need a stance anymore?" he questioned his teacher, expressing his excitement not only through his voice, but also in the way his eyes sparkled at the thought of becoming good at something he was so obviously bad at.

The brunet wiggled his toes against the cold floor, noting next time to wear his shoes. He jumped about a foot or two in the air before sliding back into position, nodding his head at how easy it was to resume the stance. Lance looked back at Keith, still grinning, "What’s next hotshot?”

 

Keith rolled his eyes as a smile pulled at his lips, "You will always need the stance to some degree, but it will become more natural to fall into. The better you get at hand to hand combat the quicker you will be so it may seem like you aren't using the stance at all, " he summed up vaguely.

The raven watched the other teen jump and retake his stance before he fell into a stance himself, though it didn't last very long as Keith took the chance and aimed a kick for Lance's stomach, both wanting to test the speed of the Blue Paladin's reflexes and to see if he would land on his back again.

 

He soaked up the information provided, a silly stance he could perfect and use without thinking? That sounded cool enough. Lance noted Keith dropped into his own stance and opened his mouth to question the Red Paladin just in time to see Keith's leg aim for his abdomen. Lance yelped in surprise and jumped back, the boot nowhere near connecting with Lance, "What the heck Keith!? I was hoping for a verbal response not a physical response!"

Clouded blue eyes locked with violet eyes, brow pinched in confusion and anger. Lance dropped back down to the stance he had before just in case Keith decided to strike again.

 

Keith gave a low whistle and flashed Lance a saucy smirk, "Well your reflexes seem pretty good. Not too shabby there, Sharpshooter," he commented - about the closest anyone has gotten to a compliment from the raven.

Violet eyes sparkled with mischief as the Red Paladin launched himself at Lance once more, "Let's see how good you are defense," he hummed out, varying his attacks between kicks and punches, holding back a little bit both on speed and strength.

 

Lance's main defense was dodging, he dodge a few blows but the ones he wasn't able to avoid he blocked with his forearms, brow pinched in concentration. He was so caught up on how well he was performing and they were only what felt like ten minutes into their training that Lance had a brilliant idea to catch Keith off guard.

When the raven teen aimed a kick his way Lance was quick to catch it, if his bouts with his elder brother taught him anything, catching a kick in mid swing caught anyone off guard.

So he did just that. Lance caught the kick with a grin and yanked. Pulling Keith off his feet and having him land on the floor with a thud, the leg still in the brunet's firm grip, he looked smugly proud of himself, “Oops my bad~"

 

Keith, not that he would admit it, was mildly impressed with how Lance was at least holding his own for now even if he was only on the defensive. The raven was caught off guard enough by the brunet grabbing his leg and pulling, causing violet eyes to widen as the teen braced himself for hitting the floor.

The Red Paladin heard more than he felt his back hitting the metal ground, he had definitely lost some feeling in his back from various incidents back on Earth. The shorter teen allowed Lance the small moment to be smug before twisting his body, his free leg swiping the brunet's feet out from under him as Keith used the grip on his other leg to pull himself towards Lance. A smirk pulled across his lips as he freed his other leg once the Blue Paladin was on the ground and he pinned the brunet's hands on either side of his head, really not even registering that he was practically straddling the taller teen's waist in order to pin him.

 

Lance's small moment of victory was cut short when he was swept off his feet and pinned to the ground in a matter of seconds, not even able to voice his surprise in that moment. Instead he looked up at Keith with wide eyes, lips apart in a silent 'oh'. His limited knowledge on fighting via movies and TV left him at a stand still to get out of this situation. The brunet huffed and relaxed against the floor, expression soft, almost fond, and was that a hint of admiration in those blue skies everyone called eyes? Yes, there was.

"Hmm... Touché Mulletman, I'll pay you back ten fold for that little stunt." He teased, lips quirked in a smile. Oblivious to their position as of yet. That was until Shiro poked his head in, "Hey Keith, time for breakfa- Uh.. Did I interrupt something?" The leader questioned with a hint of uncertainty.

Lance blinked and dragged his eyes from violet orbs he was nearly drowning in and saw Shiro, then looked back at Keith, then looked at how Keith sat. And boy, if he didn’t resemble a tomato when his mama caught him jacking off at home this had done it.

From his neck to the tip top of his head bloomed a lovely shade of red, eyes wide, the admiration and fondness replaced with embarrassment. In an amazing feat Lance managed to sit up and toss Keith onto the floor as gently as the adrenaline rush would let him, "Okay gotta go! Bye Keith!!" he all but screeched, voice a tad higher than usual. Lance rushed out of the room, bid a goodmorning to Shiro and zoomed to his own room. Shiro watched lance's figure fade before he looked at Keith with a raised eyebrow.

 

The raven laughed softly and his smirk grew as he looked down at Lance, grip loosening at the soft expression on the other teen's face, "And how exactly do you plan on getting me back for it?" He asked.  
  
Keith looked over at Shiro before looking back down at Lance and the position they were in, violet eyes widened in embarrassment and his cheeks turned a dark scarlet, matching the red of his lion, "Y-you aren't interrupting anything," he said in a hurry.

The Red Paladin raised his hand in a feeble attempt to wave in parting to the brunet before pushing himself to stand up, avoiding eye contact with Shiro, "What is that look for? He just wanted some help with hand to hand combat," Keith said almost defensively as he crossed the room to pick up his knife and bayard.  


Shiro leaned against the open door, a well knowing smirk never leaving his face, "Was that all? The Lance McClain, self proclaimed rival of you, wanted help with hand to hand combat?" he questioned, shocked. He never thought Lance would do something like that, let alone with Keith, "soo.. How'd that go?"

Shiro lifted off the door once he saw Keith walk over to him, the leader wasn’t going to leave till Keith joined them, that was proven once before. They fell into step side by side and before Keith could answer his previous question Shiro's lips quirked into one of his famous dad expressions, "You like him."

 

"Yes, that was all. It wasn't too bad, he has at least the basic defense down and the stance," Keith informed after joining Shiro. As much as he wasn't a fan of eating in the morning, last time he tried to skip out, their leader had quite literally dragged him from the training deck to the dining area.The raven's cheeks flushed darker and he sputtered and looked at Shiro with wide eyes, "Shiro! What the hell man?! I do not like him," he squawked indignantly.

 

Shiro hummed at the mention of how well the Blue Paladin was doing, as a leader and his friend he was genuinely pleased at the information. He never imagined that Lance of all people in their band of space fighters would make an attempt to better himself in his training. Shrio kept the tease in his tone, "oh? That's not what I saw. I even heard the laugh, Keith," Shiro chuckled, it was rare to hear the raven even attempt a smile let alone laughter, "at any rate this is good. For you both. Maybe you two can get passed this whole rivalry bizz and become friends..." Shiro wiggled his eyebrows in an undignified manner, a trick he learned from Lance one night when they were lounging in the common room, "or something more?"

Shiro let out another chuckle and entered the dining room ahead of the Red Paladin, seeing everyone there including Lance who was now fully dressed and idly drumming his fingers on the table as Hunk served their food goo.

 

Keith puffed out his cheeks in a slight pout at Shiro's teasing and he sent the leader a flustered glare, "I did not laugh, especially not around Lance," he denied. At the wiggle of the eyebrows, the Red Paladin tried to darken his glare, not used to being teased about such things, even from Shiro.

The raven quickly took his seat at the table, mood a little more sour than usual as he stared at his bowl of food goo, poking at it with his fork but not eating, which was rather typical, at least for the morning meal.

 

Lance shot Keith a faint smile upon his arrival, the tips of his ears still pink from earlier when he didn’t get a response Lance's smile faded and directed his attention elsewhere, ‘ _Must still be embarrassed. Or is he mad I tossed him? I'll apologize later.’_  
Lance scooped up a good portion of the goo and took a bite, he focused on the meal before him as Allura began to list their days activities:

  1. More training. 
  2. Paladin bonding exercises. 
  3. If any distress beacons pop up they will assist. 
  4. A small break
  5. Back to training! 



Lance grimaced at the thought of all the energy he _didn’t_ have being spent. It didn’t comfort him knowing that the training he did with Keith this morning resulted in him being absolutely exhausted. But a quick trip to his bathroom, a few quick brushes of alien makeup and _bam_ the bags were gone! Is there nothing in the world that make up couldn’t fix? Absolutely not.  
  
Pidge and Hunk started talking technology and Shiro, much to Lance's dismay, dragged Keith and himself into conversation.  
"Keith, Lance, I already told Keith this but I'm glad you're taking the steps to working together be that via training," he began, glancing at the two Paladins with a knowing smile, "but I gotta ask, what brought that on?"

 

Keith glanced up at everyone in a quick greeting, eyes pausing on Lance a few moments longer than the rest, appreciating the small smile, but he couldn't bring himself to return it. The raven returned his gaze to the green goop in front of him as he absently listened to Allura list off the day's activities.

Keith was already headed to the training deck to kill some time when Shiro stopped him along with Lance, violet eyes narrowed at the eldest paladin at the proposed question, "I already told you why it is happening, Shiro," he said somewhat icily.

 

Lance blinked and looked from Keith to Shiro wondering if they had a falling out after he scurried off, the ice that laced those words could be felt a mile away.

Shiro interjected before Lance could say anything, "Keith I wanted to know Lance's take on it. Its a huge milestone!"

The Cuban placed his hands in his lap, thumbs fiddled until his index finger began to scratch at the side of his other finger, it seemed he'd been doing that a lot lately, the skin was red already. Lance broke through the fight that was surely about to begin, "I guess you could say I had a revelation, ya know? Why not learn from our die hard hotshot?" he finished with a half shrug, his smile seemed a little too wide and the light wouldn't reach his eyes. Lance refused to admit his insecurity about his training, the shadow he fell into behind Keith, or his hope about taking them all to the beach.

 

Keith flushed in embarrassment, color blooming across his cheeks and even rising to the tips of his ears, not that it could he seen because of his hair.

‘ _Of course I assumed Shiro was talking to me, how could I have been so stupid’  
_

The raven started absently scratching at his wrist, gaze averted to stare at the wall as they ate, though at Lance's explanation, violet eyes drifted over to the brunet  and he tilted his head slightly. The Red Paladin could feel that something was off with Lance's tone, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. Oh well, maybe it was nothing after all.

 

The Blue Paladin scratched his cheek a bit nervously, "He won’t go easy on me like our resident dad, eh?" he poked before he concerned himself with the rest of his food goo.

Shiro smiled at the brunet at the remark, unlike Keith he was oblivious to Lance's tone, "I’m proud of you, don’t let 'em push you around though. Kick his butt," he encourage with a chuckle.

Lance's shoulders sagged, like a weight was lifted from his shoulders or he just escaped prosecution. Lance finished his food goo first and stretched out of his chair, "well guys- I’m gonna leave first.. I gotta cutie to check up on before our...training." he voiced and gave Keith one last faint smile and a tiny wave.

Lance got to the doorway and looked at Keith once more, using his thumb and pointed behind him. Hoping Keith got the plan and catch up with him later before he left to the hanger.  He still needed to apologize for tossing the guy, he could admit when he messed up plus hurting someone unintentionally wasn’t part of his plan, plus they needed to settle a schedule for their training.

 

Keith gave a partially light hearted scoff at the idea of Lance beating him at hand to hand combat. He took a few small spoonfuls of food, knowing Shiro would fuss at him later if he did not eating anything. Violet eyes followed the brunet's every move as the other teen headed out of the dining area and the raven gave a slight nod in response to Lance before turning his attention elsewhere.

It was about two minutes after Lance left that Keith stood up as well and bid everyone adieu before leaving the room, stretching out his back as he went. A soft sigh parted his lips as he headed down the hallway, not quite sure where his feet where going to take him first, the training deck or his room, or maybe even Red's hanger.

 

The Blue Paladin entered Blue's hanger with a little flair, "good morning beautiful!" he greeted and once the doors closed Lance sagged with a loud sigh and climbed into Blue's cockpit when she lowered her head. It took only a moment but she raised back up and let Lance exit out of the top of her head to lay on her head. He stared at nothing, letting his leg fall over the side and hang there.

"First morning of training went... Well? I think I got what it takes to take on the great Kogane. Offense is gonna be hard. Bad enough I suck at the team training, ya know? Just.. Too many distractions," he voiced his concerns to the only girl that would listen.

Visiting with his lion became something of the normal for him. He felt their bond grow with each passing moment. Unless he was just constipated then he was sure it was the bond between them. Lance sighed and rolled onto his side, drawing designs against the blue metal with his finger, "We actually got along this morning too! It was.. It was nice. Warm and fuzzy," the brunet groaned and covered his red face, "I sound like a girl with a schoolgirl crush."

 

The only thing Keith concluded was that it seemed to be a 'his room' morning as his feet came to halt outside of the room he had been "given." With a quick press of his palm to the scanner, the door slid open with a quiet hiss and closed just as quietly behind him once the raven was through the doorway.

The Red Paladin groaned lightly and threw himself face first onto his bed, knife and bayard casually clattering to the ground beside the structure as he simply laid there and let himself get his thoughts at least somewhat in order. Keith knew he had pissed Red off earlier when he pushed her away without any proper reasoning and he figured it would be safer is he tried to reach her through their link instead of physically going to her. The teen tentatively reached out to the lion, wincing when he was greeted with a very agitated growl, "I know, I know. I'm sorry, Red," he communicated through their link, "I don't know what I was thinking, agreeing to help him work on this. It seems like Shiro is already catching on and I don't need him trying to do anything to make this worse. It's bad enough I can barely understand what is going on, even with your input."

The raven sighed and fell quiet, letting Red's soft purr of forgiveness wash over him, bringing a wave of comforting warmth that pulled a small smile across Keith's face. He could always count on his lion to be there for him, even if he was being stupid and upsetting her.

 

Lance sat up and picked the dirt out from under his fingernails, "whatcha think buttercup? Training in the morning for 30 minutes so Mulletman can keep up his bot training?" Blue purred, it sounded like a good idea to her, at least then Lance could manage some sleep. The coms broke through overhead in the castles speakers, Allura's voice was loud and clear, "paladins, training begins in ten minutes. Finish whatever you’re doing and report in the training deck."

Lance groaned and flopped back on Blue's head, "I’m going to die today. I feel it in my bones." he mused just as Blue opened up the secret door to let him back in her. Once Lance was on the ground the brunet waved in parting, "till next time beautiful!" and left her hanger to go suit up.

Lance walked in to see Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro suited up, "Oh good you're awake. We'll see you on the training deck!" Hunk said with a smile, clapping Lance on the shoulder before all three left. The Cuban smiled and waved at their parting before he began to strip of his clothing in order to, well, suit up.

 

Keith kept up idle conversation with Red, though after a little while, his eyes grew heavy and he began dozing off. Having only gotten three hours of sleep the past two nights was starting to catch up to him.

Sensing that her Paladin needed the very overdue rest, Red began gently coaxing the human to sleep, continuing to send him comforting waves of heat and feelings of safety until she was sure that he was down for the count, at least for a little while.

The raven curled up into himself, originally trying to fight the rising sleep, but the gentle purring and coaxing from Red had him, hook, line and sinker and the Paladin was out like a light. He stirred slightly when Allura came over the speaker, but simply turned over onto his other side and continued snoozing,

 

Lance slipped into the deck and fought back a yawn, with one glance he noticed someone was missing, "Where's Kogane?" he asked anyone who'd listen. Hunk and Pidge had already begun training together as a pair so Shiro turned to face Lance, "Still hasn't shown up. Go check his room for me? I'm supervising right now."  
  
The Blue Paladin perked at the chance to miss training even just a bit. Maybe he could take his time? Lance grinned, ignoring Blue's obvious disapproval, "sure thing!"  
Lance hummed as he walked down the halls to the corridor that held their rooms.  
  
It took him, in all, ten minutes when it should of taken him only five, but he was soaking up the thought of not training. He stopped at Keith's door and knocked, waiting for a response but when he got none he couldn’t help but to huff in annoyance. Brow raised he slapped his hand on the panel and the door slid open, "Yo, sleeping beauty, you here?" he prompted as he stepped inside, not actually expecting the Red Paladin to be asleep. Lance blinked and stifled a chuckle, a fond smile replaced his annoyed frown, Keith looked peaceful and at ease. It was almost a shame to wake him.  
  
"Keith," he gently touched his shoulder, lightly shaking it, "Keeef, wakey wakey with sunshine and daisies," when the raven didn’t stir, Lance quirked an eyebrow, "come on cowboy. I would love to sleep too and skip but Shiro is gonna kill ya."

 

Keith didn't even stir as the brunet stepped into his room, only moving so much to curl farther into himself, arms cradled against his chest. The raven hadn't even had the chance to shower after training this morning and was still completely dressed, boots and all.

At the shaking, the Red Paladin only seemed to lean into the warm touch, skin slightly chilled from dried sweat and the air current that kept the castle cool. He gave an almost sigh-like exhale, chest rumbling slightly in response to Lance's voice.

 

Lance watched in silence, he reminded himself that he _wasn’t_ a creep for doing this, and crouched to be eye level with the other male. His hand traveled to entwine his fingers with black hair. Surprisingly soft he weaved his fingers through the locks and let himself relax.  
  
It'd be a snowy day in hell if he ever got this chance again. He kept playing with his hair, eyes drifted to memorize Keith's sleeping face, but then the rumble caught his attention once it got louder. At first, he thought it was Blue, but when he could barely feel her presence his eyes widened in realization.  
  
‘ _Holy crow, he's purring! That's so cute!’_  
  
Lance continued to pet the boy with a pleased grin, "I've always been a cat person but honestly Keith," he snorted, "didn't think you'd be one either. More like a snake kind of guy, ya know?" Lance raised up and began to strip the boy of his boots, careful not to wake him before draping the blanket over his small body, "sleep well, Catboy." Lance turned the lights on low before he exited the room, humming as he walked back to the training deck and let his mind wonder.  
  
‘ _Purring huh? Well no human can do that.. So he's either an actual cat or…’_ Lance paused outside the door, he could hear the muffled grunts and _hiyas_ from the others training on the other side, ‘ _Galra huh? Those are the only big ass cats I know of.. I'll ask Coran later if there are other species that purr.’_ And with that Lance entered the room, explained the situation to Shiro (but kept the tidbit of information about Keith purring to himself), and began training with the others.

 

Keith seemed to fall deeper and deeper into sleep due to the soothing sensation of his hair being played with. The purring only got louder as time went on, though a distressed whine broke through the purrs as he was moved around. At the extra layer of heat from the blanket, the raven smiled slightly and pulled it tightly around him, making himself a human burrito.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. :)


	2. Chapter 2

It was about an hour and a half later when the raven stirred, groaning as he slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes free of any traces of sleep, ‘ _ When the hell did I fall asleep..? And I don't remember taking off my boots or covering up, guess Shiro or Pidge came in and did it.’ _ Keith pushed himself up off the bed, pulling his boots back on before leaving his room, covering his mouth as he yawned. He headed down the corridor towards the command bridge, stretching up into an arch to pop his back and relieve any tension that had settled from his impromptu nap.

 

Pidge exited out of her own room just in time cross paths with the Red Paladin, "Oh hey, you're just in time for our famous paladin bonding," she grumbled, her hair dripped with water and the glasses she wore were freshly cleaned; training must of just ended. 

"How was your nap, sunshine?" She asked as she tossed a towel back into their room before they walked with Keith toward the command room, "remind me to ask Lance to come after me if I ever skip training- if he vouched for you I’m a 100% positive he'll vouch for me."

 

"I really missed morning training..?" He questioned in shock, violet eyes swimming his confusion as his eyebrows furrowed, "Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say Lance vouched for me?"

_ ‘Does that mean he was the one that covered me up..? There is no way, he can't stand to be around me for an extended amount of time’  _ Keith shook his head, "Never mind, I really don't care, are we all meeting in the command bridge or training deck?" He asked and ruffled Pidge's hair, helping shake out some of the excess water from her caramel colored hair.

 

The girl grumbled loudly and swatted Keith's hand away, nothing was more annoying than hair ruffles, but the thought was appreciated, "Command bridge this time. Coran wants us to do the mind melding but Lance and I aren't too keen on it anymore, so they're coming up with something else instead." She explained with a wave of her hand. 

 

Keith smirked at Pidge's reaction and withdrew his hand, walking with the smaller Paladin towards the bridge. "I'm glad they are trying to find an alternative, I honestly hate the mind melding," he commented.

 

They entered the command bridge and Pidge made her way to stand by Lance and Hunk. Shiro and the two Alteans were discussing other ways to bond besides the mind helmets, but the new addition to the room drew their attention to the entrance.

"Keith! There you are! You missed valuable training, but lucky for you, you're just in time for more training! Go suit up and we can begin," Allura's clear and crisp tone broke through Lance and Hunk's idle chatter and looked at Keith. Lance's eyes lingered a little too long on Red Paladin's face before he tore it away to bother Pidge.

  
  
  


Keith blinked and gave Allura a blank stare before nodding and headed to go suit up, glad that he would be the only one in the 'changing room'. Sure, he knew he wasn't necessarily bad looking, but the raven had never been confident in his looks and he hated changing around other people, always fearing that they were watching and judging him. He had a few too many scars that he never wanted to have to explain to his fellow comrades.

He kept his walk brisk as he turned on his heel and headed down the hallway, making quick work of trading his casual clothes for his paladin suit. Keith made his way back to the command bridge, where he finished adjusting the arm and thigh gauntlets once he was with everyone.

 

Pidge took notice of Keith and waved him over with a smile, "yo, so you up for some friendly Earth bonding experiences?" she asked, they were separated from the rest. Pidge was idly watching Lance and Hunk explain to the Alteans about various Earth bonding exercises with Shiro listening in and filling in for any information the aliens didn’t understand.

Pidge smiled at Keith before she went back to idly watching the four of them, "We decided it be best to try games to bond over. Lance came up with the idea, give us all a break from alien technology, then we made the cards. You up for it?" she asked just as Allura clapped her hands, staring at the deck of cards in Lance's hands, "splendid! Let's begin right away! We can go to the common room and begin!"

 

Keith frowned slightly at the mention of the bonding but simply sighed in defeat, knowing he wouldn't have been able to get out of it, "Pidge, you know I'm not that good at any bonding, alien or Earth style," he commented, "I'll try to follow along, but the only card game I know how to play and have ever been good at is Solitaire."

The raven glanced over at Lance, violet gaze lingering perhaps a little longer than it should have, possibly even with a hint of longing, but he returned his attention to watch out the giant window of the bridge until he heard Allura mention the common room, and Keith was quick to turn on his heel and head to the aforementioned room, needing the few extra moments of solitude to get his thoughts in order before he accidentally said something that wasn't meant to be said out loud.

 

Pidge watched Keith storm off with a tilt of her head, "solitaire suits him.." she mumbled to herself before following after their hot headed teammate along with the rest of the squad. 

Once in the common room Lance vaulted over the couch to sit in his usual spot, it just so happened to be next to Keith with Hunk on the other side of the raven haired teen, trapping him. The rest of the team took up spots on the couches that surrounded the middle table. 

"Okay so we have two players who don’t know how to play Uno," Lance began as he ran his fingers over the top card just as Pidge but in, "three, Keith hasn't played Uno." That didn't really surprise the brunet, he just snickered, "no worries, he has a uno master by his side and Coran, Allura, have you!" He gave Keith a side glance and a smile before he began to shuffle the handmade cards with practiced hands. His elder brother used to say he could work at a casino just for his skill with cards alone, the memory made Lance's smile fade just a tad with sorrow but it was quickly replaced with his usual smile as he gave everyone the respectable amount of cards as he went through the rules. 

Shiro helped explained in the simplest terms to the Alteans and when the explaining was over, Lance held his cards to his chest, "okay newbies, don’t be afraid to ask for help, we'll go clockwise starting with me." he finished and placed down a blue card with the number two. And looked at Keith for his turn.

 

Keith pulled his legs up to sit criss-cross on the couch, briefly glancing up at both the Blue and Yellow Paladin who had effectively trapped him on the couch. At the sound of his name, the raven sent a weak glare at Pidge for outing him, but in all honesty he was rather thankful for it, especially since it earned him a smile even if it was just a small one from Lance.

The Red Paladin listened carefully to the rules, taking a brief glance at his cards and quickly sorted them by color before watching Lance place the first card down.

_ ‘This should be easy enough, match the number or color and just go from there,’  _ with that thought, Keith plucked the red two from his hand and placed it on top of its blue counterpart, fingers lingering as he considered possibly being wrong before shaking his head slightly and taking his hand back, looking to Hunk to see what he would do next.

 

Hunk nodded approvingly with a warm smile before he placed his own card down matching the color. As the game circled around it got to Coran who looked to Shiro for guidance before he placed a draw four card making Lance groan, "Coran what the hay! What happened to loving your favorite paladin!?" accused playfully as he drew four cards. Coran snickered followed by Pidge, "all is fair in love and war." Lance slouched in his seat with a pout and nudged Keith with his elbow, "your turn Catboy."

 

Keith laughed quietly, covering his mouth with his cards while he took some joy in Lance's misfortune.

"Catboy? How did you come up with that one?" He asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he cast a glance at the brunet. The raven took a quick glance at his cards before placing down a draw two card, casting Hunk an equal parts apologetic and mischievous glance.

 

Hunk sighed in dismay but accepted the consequences of the card and drew two more cards for himself before joining conversation with Pidge, leaving Keith and Lance to their own devices. 

Lance sat back up, elbows resting against his knees as he fiddled with the cards, ordering them by number, "that’s for me to know and you to find out~" the brunet cooed and looked at Keith with smirk, there was no way Keith was gonna figure out Lance knew he purred plus he'd be caught covering him up! No way was that happening! 

"Oh by the way, thank you for this morning and also sorry for.. Tossing you. Kind of freaked out." he mumbled low enough for only Keith to hear, they were practically knee to knee so it was possible to keep his voice low enough.

 

Keith turned to face more towards Lance and frowned slightly -more like pouted- at the answer he received. It really wasn't helping that the smirk tossed his way made his heart flutter oddly in his chest, but the mullet haired teen did his best to ignore it.

"Why are you apologizing....? You didn't really do anything to apologize for," he whispered back, it practically took all of his self restraint to keep from simply shifting to lean against the brunet next to him, though realizing how close they were to each other had Keith suddenly self conscious and he pulled his limbs tighter against the rest of his body, trying to take up as little space as possible.

 

With a little shrug he shifted through the cards, keeping his fingers busy. He glanced up just to check to see if it was his turn yet but it looked like Allura was still contemplating on her cards. Lance turned to look at the Red Paladin, "Well tossing you onto the ground really wasn't my intention especially if not training related or one of our famous arguments, ya know? Which by the way, 30 minutes in the morning okay with you? You can keep up your die hard gladiator training and that leaves me with some me time," he smiled warmly at the other, usually the brunet couldn't stand being around Keith, the constant quickening of his heart beat whenever he was even spared a glance and the alarming fact that he was so.. Below average next to Keith was just annoying. But he felt surprisingly sedated today, maybe it was just his exhaustion catching up to him? He slept an hour before catching Mulletman for training. But other than that? He's been awake for well over 24 hours. 

"Lance it's your turn," Allura through their conversation with a downright evil glint in her eye. Lance furrowed his brow and looked down at the stack of cards and literally squawked, "Coran! What the heck! Why are you out to get me!" The card on the table was none other than a skip card, Hunk and Pidge laughed at their friend's misfortune, "and i had the perfect cards too!" Lance rested his chin in the palm of his hand and pouted, "go Keith.."

 

Keith hummed lightly as his listened to the Blue Paladin, turning to look at the brunet, cheeks flushing faintly at the warm smile. Gods, he was screwed, simply as that. Ever since his revelation on how he felt, each and every smile Lance sent his way, had heat gathering in his cheeks, or set loose a swarm of butterflies in his gut, and on really bad days sent his heart fluttering wildly in his chest.

"That sounds fine with me, maybe when you get better at it, we can shorten the amount of time working together," the raven said, but god did saying those words out loud hurt in the worst possible way, it made his chest tighten and his heart plummeted to the ground. The teen figured it would be best, seeing as how he didn't have a chance of the Blue Paladin even tolerating him, so there was no need to give himself false hope that Lance even wanted to spend time with him for anything other than improving for the better of the team.

Keith perked up at Lance's outburst, stifling a laugh before he looked at the cards in his hand, he understood what they all were via the pictures and numbers. Well, all but one anyways, the one with two arrows confused him, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he lingered on it. Thankfully, it was the same color as the skip card, so with nimble fingers, the raven plucked the card from his hand and laid it carefully on top of the deck, glancing over at Hunk, mostly because he figured it would be the Yellow Paladin's turn just like usual, as well as for a possible explanation of what the card was.

 

When the brunet heard those words it stung, it pierced his heart and left a bitter taste in his mouth. Was he hated that much?? Well Lance had no one to blame but himself for that. He barely hummed in response. The Blue Paladin was tired, his mask was wearing thin with the lack of sleep, and the only reason he suggested Uno -besides hating the mind melding helmets- was to have a good time and boost moral but not anymore. 

Lance covered his mouth as he yawned through fingers, he didn’t feel like playing anymore and his eyes lingered on the card a second too long before he raised his arms over his head with a too wide of a grin and cheered, "Woo!! Keith! You are officially my partner in crime now!" Lance laid down a draw four card and declared the color to be blue and sent Coran his own saucy smirk even if it wasn’t as effective as it would be to a veteran player. 

Coran accepted defeat and drew four cards and the game was played in reverse. After Lance's outburst Hunk cleared up the confusion, "Keith played a reversal card. Now the game is played in a different direction." Lance leaned back into the comfy cushions and fiddled with the cards in hands, he let the smile fall once the attention was off of him and relaxed. 

_ ‘Maybe hand to hand combat could of waited but if his words aren’t motivation enough I dunno what is.’ _

 

Keith jumped at the sudden cheer, startled by the volume, eyes widening as he tensed and after a few moments he relaxed and watched the game in fascination as it started going backwards. Honestly, Keith was having quite a bit of fun, it was amazing the little stuff he had missed out on by not trying to keep himself together after Shiro disappeared, or even just trying to make more than the one friend. But that was in the past now, he had at least five friends now, he could only hope it would be six by the time this whole war was over.

The Red Paladin gave Hunk a small, grateful smile at the quick explanation before turning his attention back to the game, doing his best to keep from delving into his thoughts too much. The next time Keith laid a card down, he took a quick count of his cards, shocked that he was already down to three, to which he quickly stacked them all together and avoided looking directly at anyone in order to avoid becoming a target for those draw two or draw four cards.

 

Lance leaned over and placed down a similar looking card in color, he still had a lot of cards left and judging from the other players he would be the all out loser of this game. But everyone was smiling and laughing, having casual conversations that didn't concern Galra or saving the universe. He hummed happily before he let his eyes slip shut. 

Blue's familiar presence, which was absent during the game, slipped back through and comforted her Paladin, sending him good vibes and warmth. 

And the bodily warmth that filled the room put him at ease. His cards laid across his abdomen with a hand over then as his head slumped to the side, he was out like a light with his breath even. But in the first few seconds of his nap that no one carried to notice or that they were too busy with the game which was more likely but his free hand fell to his side and nimble fingers snagged the back of Keith's shirt and held a gentle but firm grip.

 

Violet eyes followed around the circle, avidly watching everyone place their cards down. He snickered quietly when Shiro kept having to draw cards, seriously he had to draw almost ten cards before finally being able to play, effectively keeping him away from only having one card. Keith patiently waited for his turn, hoping Lance wouldn't kill him as the raven laid down a skip card, though his leaning forward was met with some sort of resistance.

The raven blinked in confusion and glanced back, surprised to see sun kissed fingers gripping his shirt, and his gaze followed the arm up to a see a sleeping Lance. It was safe to say, Keith had been blessed with such a peaceful sight, a small smile twitched his lips up as he shook his head, amazed that the brunet was able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat and during a game at that, but it was too late now. Instead, he gestured for Coran to play, choosing to let the Blue Paladin get some sleep, seeing as how they had  _ all  _ picked up that said paladin was clearly lacking the much needed rest.

 

The game continued on like nothing was out of place, them all skipping over Lance to let him rest. Conversations picked back up but were otherwise remained hushed in volume to not disturb their teammate. 

_ Lance glanced around the dark room, where was he? Did he get left in the common room? But he couldn’t see an outline of a single piece of furniture nor the gentle blue glow of the ship. Lance stood up from what he was sitting on, frowned, and took three steps to the side and began to follow the map of the common room. But something was wrong. This wasn’t the common room and if the toe he just slammed against something hard had anything to say about it he was back home. _

_ But not his home. _

_ The door to his bedroom slammed open, revealing a silhouette of a tall man with a can in his hand. Lance's eyes widen and he stumbled back and fell to the ground with a wince but his fear clouded eyes never left the man before him. The man tossed the empty can at Lance and then someone, a familiar voice cheered faintly followed by groans. Lance looked around before he shot up and ran through the , heavy footsteps followed, "Lance." _

_ He refused to look back, "Lance- Lance!" The Blue Paladin tripped over his own feet and something grabbed him by the leg and flipped him, he pulled out his bayard and aimed- "LANCE" _

Lance's eyes snapped open and his body moved on its own, he jumped up with his bayard drawn and aimed at the wall before him. Blue eyes clouded with fear and phantom pain cleared a bit. He recognized the room, the blue glow and the alarmed people that surrounded him, "Lance?" 

The brunet let his bayard fall to his side and go back to resting form, he was covered in a light shine of sweat with his eyes stormy, "S-sorry... I- sorry, didn't mean to scare you guys." he looked down at the cards, saw everyone but Keith had cards and figured he won, Lance mustered a tiny smile,  _ ‘our resident dessert man must of won,’ _ Lance released a shaky sigh and flopped back down before his knees buckled. No, he didn’t want to be here but one  step and he'd be on the floor.

 

Keith had been rather content with the steady, albeit small warmth that was against his back; not that he would ever tell anyone that. Though as soon as he laid down his last card, the sudden loss of heat had the raven looking over at the brunet. The wild look in Lance's eyes set the Red Paladin on high alert, hand reaching for the knife strapped against his back, already going to unsheath it as he looked around for any possible threats.

At the sound of Lance's voice, the raven returned his weapon to the holder and looked up at the brunet, concern swimming across violet eyes, but otherwise his face remained neutral.   
  
"What do you guys think about getting lunch, I don't know about ya'll but I'm getting a little hungry," Keith lied, sure it wasn't the best lie out there, but he knew the telltale signs of a nightmare. He had dealt with too many on his own as well as helped Shiro calm down after them, and honestly the way Lance had jumped up, bayard aimed and ready had him worried and Keith figured the best thing for him right now would be some space.

The shorter teen may not be the best with words, so he simply stacked up the cards before gently tugging on Lance's sleeve to hopefully indicate that he should stay behind when everyone else went to leave.

 

The team began to file out, giving Lance passing concerned glances. Hunk patted Lance's head, the big guy was a veteran of Lance's nightmares ever since they became roommates at the Garrison- he'd seen the scars but didn't know the story. Hunk just knew.. It was bad. 

When his sleeve was tugged he looked up at Keith, he was tired and looked like he was ready to cry any moment.   
Before Keith could escape Lance reached out with a shaky hand and gripped his shirt weakly, averting his gaze, "W-wait," Lance cleared his throat, "please.. Stay just a little bit.. I-I don’t-" his throat locked up and a small whimper escape his lips.  
  
The Blue Paladin who is fighting a war against galaxy conquering aliens every single day, was scared. He was terrified to the point that he felt safer with Keith - a knife wielding probably not human ready to fight his own shadow - with him.

 

Keith was the last to get up and head for the door, though he quickly froze mid step away from the couch at the weak grip on his shirt. Violet eyes softened slightly and he gave a slow nod, easing himself back down on the couch, stiff as a board but willing to do what he can to help Lance. God that whimper made Keith's heart clench painfully in his chest and he lightly bumped his knee against the Blue Paladin's, simply just to let him know he was there for him.

The Red Paladin was terrible with words when it came to trying to comfort people, but he would do everything he could to help ease the brunet; he knew first hand how painful it was to calm yourself down. No one there with you to assure you it was only a dream, it was the worst when on high alert and left alone with your overactive mind in a state of panic.

The raven stayed quiet for a few more moments before carefully speaking up, "A...are you alright? You know it is safe here..right?"

The brunet inhaled shakily, bayard still in one hand with a grip so tight his knuckles turned white and the other hand held on the others shirt but slowly let go when the Red Paladin sat back down. Lance tried to control his breathing, shallow and quick. The silence was comfortable, eased his mind as Blue's purr rippled through his body. 

Lance closed his eyes a bit hesitant as he listened to Keith's words, he knew the other was uncomfortable but he just - he needed this. 

"I- I think I'll be fine... I'm thousands of miles away from him... I-I should be fine but.." Lance shook his head, hush keep it to yourself, "I'm sorry for keeping you from lunch.. Could you help me to my room and then you can leave." The brunet readjusted his grip on his only weapon before he raised up, his knees still shook. It'd been a while since he saw that man in his dreams... Been awhile since his back ached in phantom pain.

 

Keith was gentle in the way he shifted and leaned lightly against the brunet. "Lance...you know I don't eat much. I'm not even hungry, I just figured you would need some space so it didn't feel like everyone was crowding you," he explained before standing up as well.

The raven hesitantly wrapped an arm around the Blue Paladin's waist to help stabilize him, "Alright, let's get you to your room," he said and began leading the brunet out of the room, taking advantage of his rival's state in order to simply feel the heat of his crush pressed against his side. Sure, Keith felt bad for it, but his heart was half singing with joy at the feeling; though he knew the guilt would eat him alive later that day.

 

Lance slipped an arm over Keith's shoulders in case his knees really decided to give out. They made it passed the door and out into the hall when Lance resumed talking, trying and failing to get back his usual optimistic tone, "you should try to eat more, it might be goo but its the only thing we got. You burn more calories than any of us.. Plus its not that bad. Its kind of tasty." 

God it felt like hours until their shuffling that came to a halt in front of his room. Lance removed his arm from around Keith and slapped his hand against the panel. The door slid open and it was a poor sight. There were scuff marks on the walls from god knows what and his bed? It didn’t look like it had anyone sleeping in it for weeks. 

Lance stumbled in with help from Keith and fell face first on the bed, "this is it- im done. Thanks Mullethead. I mean it when I want you to eat more. Now i can die in peace." Lance rolled over onto his back and placed his bayard on his chest, like it was the only shield from himself and.. Something else. 

"Thank you Keith." he said and genuinely meant it.

 

Keith could feel his heart hammering away in his chest as Lance's arm went around his shoulders. "I'll try, but I just can't eat much, haven't been able to since I was a kid," he said softly before falling silent the rest of the walk.

Upon reaching the room, the raven began chewing on his lip, one of his many nervous habits, he took a seat on the edge of the Blue Paladin's bed, "Are you sure you will be okay...? Do you want me to get you anything?" He asked slowly, it felt weird to offer his help to someone that seemed to hate him so much, but it was the only thing he could think of.

 

The brunet's gaze fell on the raven haired paladin on his bed, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just.. Just tired," Lance held up a hand and waved it dismissively, "some alone time and I'll be good as new.. Go ahead and go, dont need to take up anymore of your time than I have." 

The Blue Paladin rolled onto his side, his bayard held close to his chest with his back facing Keith. 

When Keith got up to leave and the door began closing did a sob escape, slipped through the crack in the door before it shut and Lance was left alone in the blue glow of the room, his body wracked with sobs, blunt nails tearing at his pillow in an attempt to muffle the loudest of cries. 

The day passed for team Voltron in a blur, no distress calls were picked up and no one had it in them to tell Lance that Paladin training was to begin and no one really spoke. When dinner rolled around and Hunk finished serving food they realized Lance wouldn't be joining them. The Yellow Paladin gripped his spoon tightly and regarded Keith in worry, knowing he was the last to see his best friend, "How is he..?" Everyone stopped and looked at Keith.

 

Keith frowned and gave a slow nod, "Feel better Lance," he said softly, awkwardly patting the teen's calf before he stood up and made his way out of the room.

At the sound of the sob, the Red Paladin could feel his chest constricting as his heart plummeted to his feet, his breath caught in his throat as he slowly made his way to the dining room not eating once he got there.

The raven couldn't get the sound of the sob out of his head for the rest of the day. He looked away from Hunk, eyes averted as he spooned the food goo around the plate, "He...I don't know what the nightmare was, but it wasn't good and he isn't doing too well," he said slowly.

 

Hunk's eyes fell to his own plate, a frown etched into his face where his usual smile would be, "I don't know the story but back at the Garrison when we became roommates, I saw the marks on his back one day after he showered," the Polynesian ran a hand through his hair, "his nightmares always left him in fear, he would grab anything for a weapon and sometimes he would rush to the bathroom to check his back for new marks.. Whatever- Whatever it is - its linked to the scars," Hunk looked pained, the memory alone was enough to bring bile to his mouth, he kept the tidbit of information that it always happened after Iverson yelled at Lance to himself. 

Now that Shiro thought about it Lance never removed his shirt in front of them, the thought of someone having abused their loveable Cuban set him on edge.

 

Keith absorbed the information like a sponge, filing it away, not for use against the brunet, but for reference on what to avoid hitting during training. The whole possibility of Lance having scars from someone that hurt him, had the raven's blood boiling in rage.

Sure, they got in fights a lot while at the Garrison, but the Red Paladin hated the idea of someone damaging such a cheery person like his blue counterpart. Gods, Keith was a goner, fallen harder than he ever expected to, but it left him fiercely protective of the brunet. Either way, the teen was only staying in place because of Red trying to soothe him and the thought of having to hear more of those heart wrenching sobs.

Dinner continued on in mild chatter but otherwise silent, it was shocking how empty the table felt without the Cuban but once everything was eaten and done they dismissed for bed.  

Keith returned to his room as soon as it was technically socially acceptable to leave the dinner table. He bid everyone a good night and opted for using his tablet to learn as much as he could about various melee weapons as well as trying to find more information on his trusty knife.

  
  


It was late at night that Lance finally emerged from his room. He had on his blue robe and under it was just his boxers and a blue tank top he found in the closet. He rustled himself up some goo and a drink of.. Space juice that he got used to but it was a tad tangy. He was coming back from the kitchen when he noticed a light on in the command room. He slipped in with the plate of food and drink in his hands and looked around. Hologram of nearby galaxies hovered in the air, he saw Keith sitting on the floor looking at them. 

His eyes were red and puffy from the hours of crying and sleeping it off, "Cat nap isn’t working for ya?"

 

The raven passed out around 10:30 p.m. Earth time, tablet falling from his hands to the floor seeing as how he was laying on his side, arm outstretched to hang over the edge of the bed. Once it hit midnight, Keith jumped awake, a cry of terror dying in his throat as he jerked to his feet. The Red Paladin made his way to the command bridge, quickly drawing up the star projections that he often used to try and calm down, though it wasn't working so well this time.

Violet eyes were glossy with unshed tears that Keith was desperately trying to rub away once he heard the brunet's voice, hands shaking violently no matter how hard he tried to still them, though he shook his head in answer to the question

 

Lance hovered at the doorway for a moment, he knew what was up. After all those years of watching the raven haired teen how could he not? Plus he knew those signs well. The brunet sat his drink and plate down behind Keith. Lance removed his robe and draped it over the other's shoulders as a blanket before he sat down behind him, back comfortably placed against Keith's, giving the Red Paladin what warmth he had to share. 

"Better?" he asked as he grabbed the plate of goo and ate what was left from his venture from the kitchen, "do you.. Want me to tell you a story? Sing a song? Though it won’t be good without a guitar."

 

Keith tensed up at the cloth being placed around his shoulders before he gave a shaky sigh and leaned against Lance, shifted to rest his head back against the brunet's shoulder. The sudden warmth was more comforting than the raven could put into words and he very much appreciated it.

"B...better..." he whispered, voice cracking and Keith had to take a deep breath,  before trying to speak again, "W-Will you sing please...?" The raven was hesitant with his question, shifting so that his side was pressed against Lance's back and he was sitting sideways, blue robe still held tightly around his shoulders providing an extra comforting layer of heat.

 

Lance hummed and laid the plate aside before he leaned on his hands, remaining as still as possible for the raven haired teen, "Do you hear me? I'm talking to you. Across the water, across the deep blue ocean," Lance's volume was low but gentle, he wouldn't reach any higher pitched notes in case it frightened Keith, "under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying."

But with a bounce of courage the brunet shifted and turned to face Keith, before he could even think to run away Lance trapped him with one leg and wrapped his arms around him, drawing him to his chest in a gentle embrace, "Boy, I hear you in my dreams. I feel your whisper across the sea, I keep you with me in my heart," his hand raised up and began to thread itself through soft black hair, "you make it easier when life gets hard."He hummed the rhythm between each pause.

 

Keith slowly closed his eyes as he listened to Lance, pulse calming down from the frantic pace it had been going. He reached down and gently held onto the hem of the Blue Paladin's tank top as he sighed, tension seeping out of his shoulders.

The raven whimpered softly at the brunet's shift, jerking and tensing as his eyes flew open in fear, though he quickly settled and curled into himself, leaning into Lance's warmth and clinging to the Cuban's shirt with still shaking hands, though it was not nearly as alarming as earlier.  Keith let out shaky sighs and nuzzled himself closer to the brunet at the feeling of fingers running through his hair; slowly, he was starting to fall back to sleep, chest started to rumble with quiet, barely there purrs as he slipped unconscious.

 

Lance sang until he was sure Keith was fast asleep, he only continued to thread his fingers through his hair to hear the purrs and to relish in this moment. The second time and wow did it feel nice, albeit guilty. If he could take Keith's nightmares on by himself to give his crush piece of mind, he'd do it in a heartbeat. 

Lance snaked an arm under Keith's legs and the small of his back, raising to his feet slowly, careful not to drop the teen in his arms. The brunet wasn't built like an ox like Shiro nor did he have toned muscles like Keith's or Hunks. But his muscles were still there, still fine, and when needed they'd always come through... However shaky. 

Lance took Keith back to his bedroom and managed to open the door by himself before laying the raven down. The way Keith clutched his robe Lance didn’t have the heart to take it back. He took one last longing look at the male before he, in another bounce or courage, leaned down and kissed his forehead, "Sleep well Catboy."

 

Keith's purrs only got louder, body completely lax under Lance's gentle fingers and soothing voice. He fell deeper into sleep, thankfully dreamless this time, though at the sensation of being moved, the raven shifted and nuzzled himself against the other teen's chest, tucking his head into the crook of Lance's neck as he gave a small groan of protest at the movement.

The Red Paladin curled onto his side once he was placed on the bed as he used the blue robe as a sort of blanket but also as a sort of protection. He gave a small, content sigh along with a purr at the kiss to his forehead, lips barely drawing into a smile.  Sleepily, he reached out and wrapped his fingers loosely around the brunet's wrist, looking up at him with groggy violet eyes, "Stay...?" He whispered out, gaze longing and scared, emotions so openly displayed and leaving the teen vulnerable.

 

The brunet stared at the gentle fingers, his body stock still, his eyes looked at Keith and he whined a tad - that look could kill. Lance ran a hand through brunet strands, _'If I stay and when he wakes up for training whenever that is he is gonna see me and freak out and possibly kill me but that expression..'_ His heart wouldn’t let logic win so he crawled over Keith and laid beside the raven, grabbing the blanket and tugged it up to their chests, "If you stab me in the morning, I will never sing to you ever again," he gave Keith the 'I mean it look' that moms usually give their children when they rebelled. 

Lance rolled into a more comfortable position; on his side facing Keith with an arm wrapped around his waist comfortably, letting his 'rival' decide if he wanted to snuggle or not. When he began to rub circles into the small of the other's back and felt more than see Keith's even breathing did he finally fall asleep himself.

 

Keith nodded slightly and his eyes fluttered closed again as he began falling back to sleep. The temptation of body heat led the raven to moving closer to Lance, curling up against the taller teen's chest, tucking his head under the other's chin as he relaxed under the small circles being rubbed on his back. The Red Paladin craved nothing more in this moment than to be able to feel the heat of the Cuban's hands on his bare skin, but the thought was quickly fleeting as his breathing evened out.

The raven was asleep in a matter of moments, curled between the two of them and fingers of one hand lightly gripping at the blue tank top, almost as if trying to prove that it was real and not just a dream, but it didn't matter, not with the way Keith felt warm and protected and in all honestly probably slept the best that night than he had in a long time, staying asleep well past the time he usually woke up for training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Lance nuzzled his face into Keith's black hair and kept the male close to his body as well as the blanket. His room was always cold, he had three blankets on his bed but nothing was compared to the heat he was experiencing in this moment, asleep next to his crush who for some reason smelt of spice and - well - everything nice managed to not only warm his heart but his whole body too. 

They remained asleep on till it was time for breakfast, usually Lance had an alarm set to wake up but not this morning. Instead he had his arms wrapped around Keith's waist, spooning the small body with his forehead pressed against the raven's shoulder and hummed blissfully. 

That was until Shiro knocked on the door, "Keith if you're in their breakfast is ready, go see if Lance is coming to breakfast as well," he said while he stood on the other side, arms crossed. Yeah he was concerned, but something just didn't feel right about Keith's room, choosing the safest route he could think of he left and would come back later if Keith didn't show up.

Lance refused to move, he vaguely registered it was Shiro and was half awake by the end of the sentence but he settled back into the mattress and dozed off.

 

Keith stirred with a protest at the sound of the knock, though he didn't wake up. He simply shifted and twined his arms around the warm body in front of him and his legs wrapped around Lance's as well as he shifted closer, sighing lightly as he basked in the heat from the Cuban coupled with the blankets on his bed.

The raven's chest rumbled with purrs as he slept on, Lance's robe still wrapped tightly around his shoulders. The Red Paladin stayed asleep for about another thirty to forty-five minutes.

 

The brunet stirred around the time that Keith started to wake up. Lance slowly peeled himself away from Keith and sat up in the bed, eyes shut with little crusties keeping them locked, and his hair was a wild mess.

_ ‘Ugh what time is it?’  _

The loud grumble from his stomach only confirmed what time it was, past breakfast. The warmth slowly left his body and left him cold, Lance remained seated- after such a good sleep he needed time to actually wake up, he was too groggy to move. 

_ ‘It is not that cold in here.. Am I in my room?’  _ he thought to himself but made no move to open his eyes.

 

Keith groaned and moved to drape his arms around Lance's waist again, "Stop moving...you're warm," he grumbled, nuzzled against the small of the Cuban's back.

The raven slowly opened his eyes, though he didn't move from his spot, cheeks heating up when he realized not only was Lance in his room and in his bed, but Keith was literally clinging to the brunet.

_ ‘Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck there is no way out of this one. God, I hope he doesn't hate me anymore than he already does.’  _ The smaller teen thought, heart racing a mile a minute in both embarrassment and fear.

 

Eyes snapped open and his body stiffened in fear for a split second before he remembered what happened last night, the tips of his ears were definitely red. Lance forgot he sang to the boy that was currently nuzzling him, and they snuggled all night! The brunet rubbed his eyes free of the crusties and slowly calmed his beating heart,  _ ‘Not the end of the world if you cuddle a bro.’  _

Once his heart decided to stop trying to jump out of his chest Lance patted Keith's thigh without turning around, yawning, "You’re warm too but we missed training," his stomach grumbled, "and breakfast," but the thought of just laying there was way too tempting. He stretched his arms over his head and popped his back but unknowingly revealed the beginnings of a long stretch of old scars and tiny burn marks created by cigarettes, "Scoot your booch." The brunet said as he poked Keith's hip, once the male was successfully peeled off Lance laid right back down and curled in toward Keith and attempted casual conversation, "Wrong, I’m cold as fuck."

 

Keith hummed in acknowledgment of Lance's words that followed the pat to his thigh, but he simply shrugged in response, "There is always lunch," he said quietly, trying to and failing to stifle a yawn.

The raven slowly unwrapped his arms from around the brunet, violet eyes catching sight of the scars which caused the teen to frown slightly, though he quickly hid it as he shifted and watched Lance lay back down. Keith laughed under his breath and rolled his eyes good naturedly, "How the hell are you cold? You are like a human heater."

 

He pulled the blanket further up, letting it fall across their shoulders as they laid there, "I could say the same to you, mister. It's so much better in here than my room you have no idea Keith." Honestly Lance wouldn't be surprised if snow began to fall in his room and if it did Lance wouldn't be able to fathom it. It barely ever snowed in Cuba and when it did It was just a speck or two.

Lance's grin turned soft, smiling faintly with amusement in his eyes, "Thanks for not stabbing me by the way, hella appreciated."

 

"Guess I'll find out someday, maybe switch rooms for a night or something," Keith offered as he snuggled under the blanket, shifting as he slipped his arms through the blue robe and watched Lance with a small smile.

"Think of it as a thank you for last night...you have no idea how much you helped me," he admitted.

 

Lance pouted playfully, acting as if he was genuinely hurt, "Aw you don’t wanna snuggle with me in my room?" he teased but was otherwise unaffected. When Keith brought up last night Lance's smile grew fonder, "no worries, I'd do it anytime, bud. If you ever need it again just come get me."

 

"I mean you are the one that said your room is cold so I only figured you would rather stay in a warmer room, but I don't really care either way," Keith hummed out and moved closer to Lance, violet eyes soft with fondness as he slowly nodded, "Are you sure...? I don't want to inconvenience you."

 

Lance ignored the little bit about his room, honestly he just wanted to snuggle without getting ammonia or something. Lance nodded and raised his hand, booping Keith's nose, "I'm positive. It makes me feel.. A little closer to home and it helps you out too so its a win win."

Lance's stomach growled louder, making the brunet sighed, "We need to eat and make an appearance before someone starts to question it."

 

Keith followed Lance's finger as best he could, almost going cross-eyed before blinking a few times in shock at the touch. The raven grinned and chuckled at the sound of the brunet's stomach before poking at it, "Tell that thing to be quiet, it can survive a few hours without food goo," he teased.

 

Lance raised an eyebrow, a teasing grin on his face, "oh ho? But does Mr. Mullet over here realizes he's missed his early morning training and his after breakfast training? Think he can handle that?" he said and rolled onto his back, placing a hand over his abdomen, idly wondering if it'll actually shut up if he patted it.

 

The raven huffed and puffed out his cheeks in a pout, "I don't train every morning," he protested and playfully swatted at Lance, "I only train so much because I have nothing else to do and it sometimes helps calm me down after a rough night."

 

Lance laughed softly and smiled at Keith as he took the hit, unable to dodge anyway, "okay okay, calm down. Just dont over do it okay?" he replied right when Shiro knocked on the door again, "Keith? You in there still? Are you sick?" Lance smirked slyly, "want me to answer for you?" he asked, knowing if he did answer that'd just create an awkward silence followed by more teasing from Shiro.

 

"I can't promise anything," Keith hummed out before glancing towards the door, "I dare you to answer for me," he challenged, eyes sparkling with mischief and a playful smirk on his face.

 

Lance's smirk turned to a grin as he got up, he thought about it a moment and removed his tank top and messed up his wild ass hair even more to look like they had a little fun.

Yeah it exposed his heavily scarred back, old whippings and cigarette burns but damn would it be worth it. He shot Keith a wicked grin and answered the door, his grin was gone and replaced with a tired but sated expression, "Keith isn’t sick- did you need something?"

 

Keith rolled his eyes, his own grin appearing on his face as he sat up and watched the brunet. A pale flush coloring his cheeks as the other teen took off his tank top.

_ ‘Stars, I really should have thought this through before challenging him...I didn't think he would quite take it this far. Oh well, guess I'll just have to go along with it.’ _

The raven stood up, making sure Shiro couldn't see him as he took off his own tshirt and simply wore Lance's robe and his sweat pants as he wandered over and leaned against the brunet's back, wrapping his arms around his waist, "Babe, come back to bed," he cooed, making his voice slightly hoarse and tired sounding.

 

Lance bit the inside of his cheek, he didn’t think Keith would play along let alone take it this far. His body stiffened when Keith leaned against him, but it relaxed in a matter of seconds, before Shiro had the chance to take notice.

Shiro's face turned a dark red, he was completely speechless for a total of sixty seconds before he looked away, clearing his throat, "S-Sorry to interrupt.. I'll go now.." and quickly turned on heel to leave. Lance chuckled and shut the door

 

Keith was quick to dissolve into laughter at Shiro's quick departure after the door closed, almost full on  _ giggling _ before realizing he was still holding onto Lance.

Violet eyes widened in shock as a dark blush spread across his cheeks as he quickly let go and backed away from the Blue Paladin, "Um....sorry. Sorry if that was too far," he stuttered out, glancing away from the brunet as he bit his lip, doing his best to ignoring the longing he felt to simply wrap his arms around Lance once more and just stand there.

 

Lance turned his head and smiled. The brunet almost voiced that he wanted Keith back, the dude was warm but he thought better and laughed softly, "Don’t worry about it, babe. Just.. Next time give me a warning. Especially if you're coming up from behind me. In case you didn’t notice I’m a little sensitive back there." he said as he grabbed his tank top and grinned, "but that was fucking hilarious."

 

Keith flushed darker at the term of endearment but couldn't help the smile that split across his face, "Sorry, I was trying to be as gentle as I could. But my god did you see how red his face got?! I have never seen Shiro that red before," he commented, chuckling once again.

 

Lance laughed softly and shrugged on his tank top, "That was so great! But now we're gonna get shit for it but that was so worth it." Lance sat down on the bed, grinning from ear to ear. "Hope you're ready for the havoc we just caused."

 

"We probably will, but when is Shiro not giving me shit for one reason or another," the raven commented and leaned against the wall by his bed, "Are you ready for it?" Keith wasn't going to lie, it was nice joking around with Lance like this, seeing him grin so easily and laugh.

 

Lance chuckled and flopped back on the bed, arms spread out beside him as he stared at the ceiling, "dunno, Hunk was already giving me the side eye. But Shiro won’t really mess with me bout it, ya know? Not unless he turns it into a lecture.” Lance closed his eyes as his grin dampened into a smile, "which I doubt. He's too damn flustered about it." He giggled and sat back up, "okay but for real, goo time Keithykins."

 

"What do you mean Hunk was giving you the side eye?" Keith asked curiously as he reluctantly took off Lance's robe and tossed it towards the blue paladin before pulling out a clean shirt from one of the drawers under his cot and tugged it on.

"He was pretty flustered, I'd be surprised if he doesn't make me stay with him after training and lecture me or make me spar with him," he commented and quickly switched his sweatpants for his typical black jeans.

 

Lance took the robe back and folded it to distract himself while Keith literally changed in front of him, "hm? Oh did I say that out loud? It's nunya beeswax." Once the robe was folded and Keith properly changed Lance stood up and opened the door, checking the hallway before he exited with the Red Paladin, "Pff- he treats you like a son, thats cute."

 

"Shut your face! He does not treat me like a son!" Keith practically squeaked as a dark pink color spread across his cheeks as his stared at Lance with wide eyes, momentarily pausing his walk away from the room and towards the dining area.

"I can't believe you would say that, Shiro does  _ not _ treat me like a son."

 

Lance snorted abruptly and had to cover his face to mask his horror. He hadn't snorted in centuries- that's embarrassing but not as embarrassing as Keith's adorable squeak. He gained control over himself and looked at Keith, smirking, "Okay than a very doting older brother, how about that?"

 

The brunet paused in front of the doors before it slid open and he walked inside, "Does that sound better than a dad?" he teased and poked Keith's arm before he noticed the stares they were getting from the table. Blue eyes scanned the room - Shiro wouldn't make eye contact, Hunk and Pidge had smirks on their faces and the two Alteans looked downright excited.

 

Keith huffed and puffed out his cheeks in embarrassment though his eyes were bright with amusement at Lance's snort, "I mean he is like a brother to me, so I guess that is more accurate and slightly better."

Violet eyes blinked and glanced around at everyone as he stood by his seat at the table, doing his best not to laugh at Shiro, "Why is everyone so quiet...did something happen?"

 

The two Alteans jumped from their seats causing Lance to take a step back and stand behind Keith if he needed a shield. Allura grabbed Keith's hands and shook them excitedly, "Congratulations!! I'm so happy for you two!!" Lance's eyebrows rose in confusion and had to stifle a yelp when Coran slapped him on the back, "of course the proper way to go about it is the talk first- we have any substances you need for your bedroom activities my boys!"

Lance stopped, holding onto the back of Keith's shirt as he stared in horror at Shiro, Hunk and Pidge leaning against the table having a laughing fit like they had just witnessed something so hilarious that it brought them to tears.

 

Keith raised an eyebrow in confusion before his entire face went red and his gaze immediately turned to Shiro and narrowed into the darkest glare he could muster, "Shiro...is there something that maybe you should have kept to yourself until you knew all the details?" He hissed out viciously.

The Red Paladin was beyond furious and embarrassed more in that moment than he had ever been in his life. He never thought Shiro would immediately tell the rest of the team before even consulting him and Lance on what was really going on between them, but apparently the raven was wrong and it kind of hurt, but that was the least of his worries right now.

 

Lance hunched his shoulders and leaned his forehead on Keith's shoulder, trying to hide as best he could. Shiro rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and waved a hand at Pidge and Hunk, "They guessed!! I couldn’t just lie to them!" he said as if that made it all more better. Pidge cackled in her seat next to the Yellow Paladin and grinned at Keith, "Don’t get your boxers in a twist if anything Shiro is the one who must be embarrassed. He had to explain Earth.. Attraction to Allura and Coran."

 

Keith took a deep breath and held it for a few moments before slowly releasing it. He gently pushed Lance off his shoulder and stepped away from the table, "Technically you did lie to them anyways because there is nothing going on between Lance and I. He was simply helping me after a nightmare and we fell asleep in my room. He answered the door on a dare, Shiro, and I played along to try and embarrass him. I'm not hungry, so I'll be on the training deck."

Keith was frustrated, both with himself and the situation, frustrated enough that violet eyes were misty with unshed tears as he quickly made his way out of the dining room and headed for the training deck, immediately starting Level 5 with the Gladiator as soon as the door was closed and his bayard was activated.

 

Lance watched Keith go with a frown, the havoc they caused wasn't something they were prepared for in the long run. The room was quiet now, tense and uncomfortable. It hadn't been like this in a while. The brunet took a deep breath and turned to Coran, "may I borrow your boot?" The gingered male titled his head curiously but offered up his boot, using Allura's shoulder to balance. Lance pulled off his own two shoes and faced the table, ignoring Hunk's 'oh no'.  
  
Lance held up the boot and glared, "¡Será mejor que corras!" Hunk shot up from the table and headed to the door adjacent to the table just as Lance chunked it at him, Pidge and Shiro alike yelped and high tailed it with Lance quickly following, spouting off in quick spanish quite furiously.  
  
Lance only calmed down when he finally hit all three of those hooligans with the shoes, returning Coran's boot and explaining what actually happened to the two Alteans who felt incredibly bad. Lance ate alone in the dining room after that, twirling the spoon in the goo idly and ate ever so often. A good day turned bad and now who knows when Keith and him could be buddy buddy like that again.  
  
Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge walked into the training deck, a bruise on each of their faces, and looking just as bad as they felt for what happened. They waited until Keith took notice.  
Pidge started, the girl's head down, "We're sorry about this afternoon.." Hunk twiddled his fingers nervously, he looked like he wanted to cry, "It won’t happen again man, swear." Shiro's turn lead him to take a deep breath and rub the back of his neck, "It was my fault from the start- i shouldn't of jumped to conclusions like that."

 

Keith noticed the three other Paladins in his peripheral vision but returned his focus to the Gladiator bot, taking the machine on hand to hand for a few moments before finishing it off and calling for the program to quit. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before turning to face his teammates, eyebrows pinching in confusion at the sight of the bruises but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he listened.

Another deep sigh left his lungs - he seemed to be doing that a lot today- before he spoke up, voice soft, "Pidge, Hunk...it is fine, you guys didn't know any better, I'll see you guys later. Can I talk to Shiro alone for a little while?" The raven waited for confirmation from the two and nodded in parting, waiting until it was just him and Shiro before speaking again.

"Look Shiro, it is not your fault and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have dared Lance to answer the door without knowing what he was planning and I shouldn't have gone along with it," he started out, voice breaking slightly as tears clouded his eyes ones again. Keith turned his gaze to the floor as he continued speaking, "God, Shiro, what was I thinking?! It was all a fucking joke and it hurt, I know it wasn't for very long, but I just wanted it to be real. I like Lance. I really like him, like a lot, and I want to be able to hug him for no reason, I want to be  _ with _ him," he whimpered out, furiously rubbing at his eyes to keep the tears from falling, "I must look pathetic right now, but for a split second I thought it could have been real."

 

Shiro stood there awkwardly, watching Keith spill his feelings, it was only when he began to shed tears did he move. He placed a hand on Keith's shoulder, pulling him closer until Keith's forehead was pressed against Shiro's chest. The male didn’t know what to say, or do in this situation. But in the long run he knew just being there for the young man was more than enough. When Keith calmed down enough, Shiro spoke, "I'm sorry, Keith. Just.. Keep hope. Maybe it'll happen..anything is possible. You two have been doing good in the last two days, keep it up and maybe something big will change."

 

Keith focused on Shiro's touch to try and ground himself, soon hugging the Black Paladin as if he life depended on it. He took a couple shaky deep breaths to calm himself, listening carefully to his elder's words.

As the words registered, the raven gave a watery laugh and mustered up a weak smile, "Gods if only Shiro...but he still hates my guts. Pretty sure he still can’t stand to be around me very long on a normal basis," he reasoned before slowly pulling away and wiping his face clean, "Please...don't tell anyone about this."

Keith fidgeted with his fingers for a few moments before glancing up at Shiro, "Thank you...for everything. I'll see you later." He took another calming breath and flashed the older teen a small smile before heading towards the kitchen, hunger finally catching up to him.

 

Shiro nodded, promising not to spill the beans or give any indication that he knew of Keith's secret. The man watched the younger leave the training deck quietly, once he departed Shiro decided to train a little. Maybe get rid of the vivid memory of having a shoe chunked at his face by an angry Cuban- Shiro shuddered.

In the dining room adjacent to the kitchen, Hunk and Lance sat at the table by themselves. Lance's legs propped up on the table as he flipped through an Altean magazine he found in the secret room he discovered not long ago. He hadn't visited in a while- practically gave him chills at how.. Homey it felt. Like he belonged there. Hunk had questioned the magazines existence once or twice but Lance would always give a vague answer. He'd even question if Lance could read it, seeing him stop on a certain page and eyes skim over the words slowly. Lance would just shrug and say, "Kind of."

Which didn't make any sense to the Yellow Paladin but he left it be in favor of a new conversation and a new dish of those space cookies he kept taking a crack at, "Did you really have to hit us in the face with shoes? A simple lecture would of sufficed." Lance scoffed, "buddy a simple lecture in spanish isn’t gonna do any of you good till I prove a point." Hunk sighed and glanced to the side, seeing Keith walk into the kitchen he raised his hand in greeting, a welcoming grin on his face that split the bruise into two equal halves.

 

Keith offered a hint of a smile and greeted Hunk with a small wave of his own before his eyes focused on a bruise, making him frown in concern. The raven made his way over to the Yellow Paladin and observed the mark, "What happened...? Does it hurt?"

It wasn't that he was intentionally ignoring Lance, but the mullet haired teen didn't know the first thing to say to him after the whole fiasco from earlier. Keith wanted to talk to him, that was a given, he just didn't know how to go about doing so, especially since his walls were pretty much crumbled to the ground and he was pretty sure his eyes were slightly red and puffy from crying still since it was only about ten minutes ago that it happened.

 

Hunk rubbed his neck with a chuckle, "Not anymore, Shiro got hit way worse though. But.." Hunk side eyed lance who was focused on a page about braiding hair, "he could of been a little more lax with how hard he tossed the shoes, Pidge's bruise is basically non-existent at this point." Lance snorted and held up a finger, "Te lo mereces," Lance flipped the page and repositioned his legs on the table.

Hunk shrugged, his spanish wasn’t as limited as most people's but he understood the gist whenever Lance was still salty. He turned back to Keith and smiled again, "You hungry? I made more space cookies. Lance said they're better than the last ones so dig in, man."

 

"I'm sorry...if I hadn't of overreacted this wouldn't have happened," the raven apologized before his attention went to the cookies, "I actually am kinda hungry. Guess its finally catching up to me." Keith reached over and picked up a cookie, nibbling on it absently as he glanced over at Lance, unaware of the almost dreamy sigh that left his lips.

 

Hunk waved him off, "No big dude! We practically deserved it." he picked up his own cookie, catching the sigh. The same sigh Lance would always make when he thought no one was paying attention. The gears in Hunk's head began to turn, clicking into place when he discovered that his best friend and the 'arch nemesis' of said friend were two pinning idiots.  
Hunk's gaze narrowed in and he had to bite back the grin on his face. He picked up two cookies and stood, "Well..this has been fun, but Pidge needed help with some.. Space junk. You two kids play nice." he said and backed out of the room quietly, Lance blinked as he watched him go quite abruptly, "Okay..?"  
  
Lance looked at Keith, brows furrowed in confusion, they didn’t do anything did they? The brunet grabbed a cookie and shoved half of it in his mouth, letting the other half hang out. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to be alone with Keith just yet, he was still pretty mad at the other three paladins. He was mad at himself for doing such a stupid joke in the first place. Hell, he was mad at Keith for playing along, but that was short lived and would just create a bigger mess of things.

 

Keith tilted his head to the side in confusion as he watched Hunk leave, "Bye...?" He hummed out before cautiously making his way over to Lance and sat in the chair next to him.

"..Hi...how are you doing?" The raven asked softly, soon picking up a second cookie and started nibbling on it, leaning over to glance at the magazine in Lance's hands.

 

Lance ate the cookie in one go without the use of his hands, having a big mouth was useful sometimes. The page he stopped on was about Altean fashion, the slow movement of his eyes gave away that he was actually reading it, "Better? I'm still a little salty about earlier though. Then again you probably are too."

He closed the magazine, leaving a thumb to mark his place, "Like honestly, the joke went to far yeah. That was my fault and I’m sorry but you'd think they'd have some decency and not act like a bunch of school girls?" Now he was just ranting, babbling on, he was still frustrated with himself for even acting like that.

His english quickly switched to spanish, hands in the air as he spoke wildly. He glanced over, catching Keith's confused and slightly horrid expression, and slowly relaxed, quieting down. "Oops.. Sorry I didn’t mean to switch languages on ya, buddy."

 

Keith laughed softly and listened to Lance before falling quiet as he watched the Cuban talk, violet eyes slowly growing wide in confusion and the slightest bit of fear at the sudden language switch.

The raven just gave Lance a nervous laugh and awkwardly patted his arm, "Its...uh, its alright. Just know that I have no idea what you were saying, but you are right, they shouldn't have talked about it so quickly, but at the same time it was something new and since nothing else really happens around here I guess it makes sense that they got excited about it."

 

Lance settled down in his seat and relaxed against it, the magazine laying in his lap. Keith was right, nothing exciting out here in space besides the occasional surprise attack from the Galra. Speaking of Galra Lance had to ask Coran about them during dinner tonight.

"No one knows what I'm saying, Hunk understands what little I repeat though.. But yeah you're right. They got excited like a bunch of school girls," he sighed and reopened the magazine, restarting the paragraph, "I'm still sorry for.. The havoc we- no I caused. How are you feeling by the way?"

 

"Its fine, and it was both of us, not just you, so don't take all the blame," Keith said and offered a small smile and he simply leaned against Lance as he took another cookie, "I'm feeling alright I suppose, still upset about it, but can't change it now. Still trying to figure out what other emotions I'm currently feeling." The raven laughed slightly with a shrug, it wasn't like he could just say he wanted it all to be real and not to be a joke.

 

Lance smiled lightly and turned the page of the magazine, a picture of a high tech hoverbike with a paragraph of Altean next to it. "Same? I dunno, I’m kind of just upset at everyone including myself. I'm glad you're feeling a little better, did the bot training help some?"

 

"I understand. Yeah, it helped a little bit, made me not want to take Shiro's head off in the most violent way I could think of," Keith admitted as he perked up at the sight of the hoverbike, "That would be a beauty to own back home," he commented with a low whistle.

 

Lance snickered a little and showed Keith more of the photo, "the Alteans called it Dove M.II. its the second of its kind, well it was.. But! It has hella fire power, engine wise." he explained and pointed to the exhaust portion of the bike. Lance tried to bite back a goofy smile, "remember when you drove us off a freaking cliff on your bike? Like seriously man? It was terrifying!"

 

Keith rested his chin on the Cuban's shoulder and hummed in appreciation before shooting the Blue Paladin a small smirk, "I remember that. Y'all were screaming like little girls and it was great. I knew we were gonna be perfectly fine....well, I kinda did. Yeah, no I didn't know if we were going to make it or not," he admitted with a slight blush.

 

Lance gasped in horror and turned his head to look at Keith with wide eyes, "seriously!? Keith what the heck!" but he couldn't help the bubble of laughter, that was so like Keith though. Doing everything cool and extreme. "My god Keith, that was terrifying... But fun."

 

Keith's grin widened and violet eyes lit up in amusement, "I mean I figured with all the weight in the back it would have been easier to land than if I was on it by myself, but I honestly wasn't sure if it would land correctly. I’ve only ever seen that jump made one time by someone else. I'm just glad it actually worked out," he commented and leaned farther against Lance, sure it might have been borderline too close, but the raven really couldn't bring himself to care at the moment

 

Lance reached over and pinched Keith's side with a laugh, "No more okay? My heart won’t be able to handle it, jeez." The Cuban shifted so Keith could be a tad more comfortable on his shoulder and grabbed a cookie from the plate, munching on it.

  
  


Keith squeaked and moved his hands to shield his sides, "No promises!" He said, laughing lightly as he cautiously reached across for another cookie, "it’s my specialty to pull stupid stunts."

 

Lance snorted, rolling his eyes, "That’s a no brainer. I can't believe we took our lions for a nose dive too once. Like do we have any self control? Well I do, but do you?" he asked with an amused grin.

 

"Well obviously not, who flew into the asteroid field to save your lion again? When it literally should have not been possible to fly through there. Besides there is no fun in it if there isn’t a little risk," he purred with a smirk, poking Lance in the ribs.

 

Lance smacked Keith's hand away before he had a chance to tickle him, he didn’t miss the purr in his voice either, "I'm going to bubble wrap you one day, I swear." he chuckled and closed the magazine. He was done with it already, "I gotta return this, see you at dinner?"

 

Keith laughed and reluctantly sat up, pulling away from Lance, "Bubble wrap won't do anything but be noisy while I'm being reckless." The raven reached across the table as far as he could to stretch out his back, sighing in relief at the series of pops as the tension released. "Yeah, see you at dinner, Blue."

 

Lance smiled and patted Keith's shoulder, "hasta la later, Red." and left the dining area with the magazine in hand. He walked down a series of halls, going to one of the upper floors and followed the map he memorized. He entered the hidden room no one else knew about.

He didnt return till dinner time. He sat down quietly in the seat next to Keith and twirled his spoon in the goo, humming, "Coran? Do Galran's purr?"

 

Keith seemed to kind of perk up at the touch and flashed Lance the barest hints of a smile as he left before eating a couple more cookies. The raven spent about ten more minutes simply reflecting on the days events there at the table before heading to back to the training deck to get rid of some energy.

At dinner Keith stayed rather quiet, honestly pretty content and mellow more than he usually was. At Lance's question he tilted his head and looked to Coran for an answer.

The Altean stroked his mustache in thought before responding, "I do believe certain kinds of Galra possess the ability to purr, though I'm not sure if all Galra can. It's not something that was really looked into before the war started and obviously hasn't been explored since Zarkon took over everything."

 

Lance watched Coran, intently listening to the male's response. So some Galran can? Hmm.. Lance looked over at Pidge and a knowing smirk spread across both their faces. Like they were having a silent conversation that no one else knew about until Shiro narrowed his eyes, the bruise on his jawline had was a dark red and wouldn’t fade till tomorrow, "No, absolutely not. You two are not researching this topic! That's dangerous." Lance merely rolled his eyes and took a spoon full of goo, what Shiro doesn’t know won’t kill him. Lance knew Pidge and himself would still do it. So he changed the topic, "What about other aliens that purr?"

 

Keith hummed in response as he took a bite of goo. It was interesting to learn that there were Galra that did indeed share physical abilities with cats besides just their appearances. He rolled his eyes in amusement at his team members antics, honestly that sounded pretty fun, despite the looming danger that obviously went with it; besides, anything to learn about their enemy would come in handy.

Coran hummed and thought for a moment, "I believe the only other species that has that capability are the inhabitants of planet Thundera. The locals seem to be a mix of various felines that are native to your home planet, though have more humanistic features and walk upright, much like the Galra. According to the data the Castle has, their species and planet was one of the first completely wiped out after Zarkon began his empire and after Altea was destroyed," he responded.

 

Lance paused and rolled the newfound information in his head before it clicked, "oh! I've read about them. I forgot they were a species that could purr. I did not know they were all gone though.." Lance hummed and stared at his goo with a pensive look, yeah it seemed possible Keith could be a Galra. But further research would need to be conducted. "Do we have any missions?" he asked and looked toward Shiro and Allura who looked quite startled by his question.

Lance waited patiently with a smile. Allura cleared her throat and nodded, "Yes? Tomorrow a flash drive that will be able to possibly help Pidge find her family and tell us exactly how big Zarkon's fleet is, is on board of one of the ships a varga away. So we're starting that tomorrow morning.. Lance, how did you read about the Thundera?" Lance finished his bowl and stood up, ignoring the question, "sign me up for that one, I gotta go.. Uh chill." he chuckled and used his legs to take long strides out of the room. Pidge smirked into her bowl, "sign me up too. Well you were gonna sign me up anyway- Keith you in? Someone who actually knows close range would be useful."

 

Keith blinked in shock, Zarkon seemed to completely wipe out quite a few species or at least drive it down to a few straggling survivors. The Red Paladin spaced out for a while until he heard his name. He turned his attention towards Pidge, violet eyes clouded with confusion for a few moments before his subconscious filled in the rest of the question for him. "Uh, yeah, I'm in. Anyways I'm gonna hit the deck one last time before bed, I'll see you guys in the morning," he said after finishing the last few bites of his food goo, following the taller brunet out of the room after a few more moments at the table.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. :)


	4. Chapter 4

The Cuban was already in the training deck but he wasn’t training, instead he was holding the shut off bot under its arms, holding it up right as he lugged it toward the exit as best as his noodle arms would let him. He stopped for a few moments when he heard the door slide open, he smiled, "heyo Keithy. Sorry you'll have to get a new bot." he said as he resumed his pulling.

 

Keith frowned in confusion before going to help Lance move the bot, "Do I even want to know what you are doing with this?" He asked, unable to help the curiosity that colored his tone.

 

Lance grinned, thankful for Keith's help, "yes you do but will I tell you? Nope!" they managed to get the bot out of the room before Lance turned to pull it down the hall. Soon realizing he was going to get nowhere just by himself, "but I can show you if you help me, but you gotta keep it a secret okay?"

 

The raven shrugged, "Might as well help, not like there is anything to do around here," he said. Besides, not like whatever this was was really going to cause any harm; he figured Pidge or Hunk was involved somehow since they are probably the one that asked for the robot.

 

Lance grinned and grabbed the bots arms while Keith took the legs. Their progress was slow but much faster than it would be if it was just Lance by himself. They walked down a series of hallways until they reached the elevator. Propping the robot in the corner Lance pushed the button and the elevator began to rise. It was.. Quiet. A comfortable silence between two dudes and a bot. The elevator slowed to a stop and the Cuban grabbed the bot again, with Keith's help of course. Lance followed the map he memorized, turning corners in a left, right, left pattern until they stopped at a door. Lance looked at keith and scrunched his nose, "remember you cant tell anyone about this place okay?"

 

Keith quietly followed after Lance with his end of the bot, zoning out as they walked and even as they rode the elevator. Honestly, the raven wasn't even paying all that much attention through the labyrinth of turns they took until he registered that the Blue Paladin was talking to him, "Huh? Oh yeah, I won't say anything," he agreed.

 

Lance raised an eyebrow, "you feeling okay?" he asked as he slid his hand up against the panel, a blue light scanned Lance's hand and a gentle but obviously robotic voice made itself known through the small speaker as the door slid open; "welcome Paladin of Voltron."

 

Lance grabbed the bot and lugged him inside. The room was big, a bit bigger than the bridge itself and the walls were lined with bookshelves full of varies literature. A table and comfortable looking chairs rested in the middle of the room. There was an upstairs walkway that led to another row of bookshelves and a window that had a picture of the ocean tapped on it.

 

"I'm fine...just a little tired, but its no big deal," Keith answered truthfully with a nonchalant shrug.

 

Once inside the room and the bot was set down, the raven looked around with a small gasp of awe as he spun in a slow circle to take it all in, "Whoa...I thought Coran showed us the only library on the ship, but this...Lance this place is amazing," Keith said, almost breathlessly.

 

"Oh its more than just a library. Blue was helping me out of one of my anxiety attacks and she led me here." he said and flipped the bot onto it's side, he opened the panel and began to fiddle with the buttons on the inside like Hunk showed him a week ago, "It's.. It feels like this space is mine ya know? Well you dont know but like it has the homey feel to it? Like i belong in this room." he shut the panel and backed up when the bot reactivated and the floor sucked it up just like the training deck did.

 

"This place is really cool," Keith commented as he walked over the table and flopped down into one of the chairs, simply looking around to absorb the sight of the room. At the sound of the floor opening he looked over and tilted his head, "I kinda understand what you mean. I feel most at home on the bridge when I have the star projections pulled up of simply just looking out the window with the rest of the lights off. Now what exactly did you need the bot for?" He asked curiously.

 

Lance smiled and jumped up on the table, idly kicking his feet, "well this is the former Blue Paladin's chamber. Blue said he was a nut for books and goofing off. But she also said there came a time where he didnt believe in himself so Alfor built this facility for him." he explained and turned back to the clearing, "there was so much cool stuff here, it took a day to clean the whole room and then I discovered it has its own training regime." Lance tapped a button on the table and pulled up a holographic list, "you can pick the terrain, what level, how many bots. But i found out that all the bots were coded to fit my needs after the room scanned my bayard. There is no close combat bot, so thats why I stole that bot. The room is scanning it now."

 

Keith nodded along as he listened, violet eyes watching Lance the entire time he talked. "That makes sense, and thats really cool that the training is that detailed. But you know you could have asked Pidge or Hunk to download the program to a chip instead of lugging the bot all the way down here," he said with a light laugh and moved to sit on the table as well, slightly swinging his feet as he offered Lance a small smile. 

 

Lance's smile grew small, "because only I know about this chamber. Allura doesn't know it exists. I wanted to keep it a secret but.." Lance looked at Keith and the corner of his mouth quirked a tad, "I can trust you not to go blabbing about my secret hide out. I spend all of my time here and I think if Allura or Pidge found out.. Well Pidge would poke around the technology aspect and Allura would be in here constantly for books. It would no longer be.. Mine." Lance then perked up and held up his index finger, "plus my secret training was supposed to be a surprise!"

 

The raven hummed softly and gave a small nod, "Well its not really a surprise anymore now is it?" He teased lightly and playfully shoved the Blue Paladin, "Besides, there are quite a few secrets we all keep from each other so don't worry, I won't blab about your room." 

 

Lance chuckled and hopped off the table, grinning, "thank you Keith, you wanna see how you do at my level of training?" he asked, blue eyes shining with challenge and mirth.

 

Violet eyes blinked and the Red Paladin perked up, "I would love to," he said, not bothering to mask his excitement. Honestly, the training deck had been getting pretty boring; he had been meaning to ask Pidge or possibly even Coran to see if they could change up the program somehow.

 

Lance chuckled softly, honestly it was adorable how excited the Red Paladin would get by just mentioning a fight or a battle. Lance pulled up the holo-list and smiled, "I'll start you on my level," he said and motioned for Keith to step next to him. Once Keith was off the table the floor began to turn slowly and with it the table and chairs slipped into the floor and was replaced with clean tile. Now they stood in a big clearing. Lance pressed a series of buttons and retreated up the walkway to the second floor so he could watch.

The voice from the door returned but echoed throughout the room, "Terrain #2, bots accounted for, please prepare your bayard for level ten." The voice cut off just as a holographic field of the inside of a hanger on a ship formed, some solid forms emerged from the ground to use as coverage for both bots and Paladin. Speaking of bots, three emerged from the ceiling, white and gold like the one from the other training deck but they had guns instead of staffs.

 

Keith tensed up as the room began changing on its own. He had been wondering how Lance trained with all the stuff in here, but that answered that question. The raven watched Lance head up to the second floor before his attention snapped to the bots that dropped from the ceiling.

Violet eyes were quick to take in the new surrounding before Keith bolted for the nearest solid cover, bayard sparking to life as his fingers closed around the grip, sword poised and ready for battle. The Red Paladin was already in tunnel vision, ears listening for any movement from his enemies and eyes watching any type of pattern to the shots being fired in his direction.

The raven popped his head up briefly over the top of box he was currently taking over behind. 'Swords aren't exactly the best to bring to a gunfight, this is going to be kinda hard,' he thought to himself. Keith used the momentary break in gunfire to vault himself over the box and head for one closer to the bots, having to deactivated his weapon in order to summersault his way behind the cover as the shots began once again. The teen held the bayard against his chest as his brain raced with ideas on how to take down the bots, so far it seemed that his only option was to simply throw his sword, which would then leave him weaponless. "How the hell do you do this Lance?!" He called out in slight frustration.

 

Lance chuckled from his perch above the playing field, he sat on top of the railing and swung his feet in the air. The bots had no real pattern, in fact level ten was randomized. They shot at their target and their target alone. One bot kept up the fire power while the other two circled from the side, closing in on Keith.

Lance smiled down at him and cupped his mouth with his hands so Keith could hear, "you want to pause and let the master show you how it’s done!?"

 

"No! I can do it!" Keith called back, ever the one not to back down from a challenge. He pursed his lips in a pout of frustration before closing his eyes and focusing, sure the gunfire was loud, but the raven managed to drown it out as he listened to the sound of clunking metal getting closer and closer to where he was.

Violet eyes snapped open as his bayard activated, Keith didn't have time to admire it as he perched up on one knee and drew his left arm back, energy sparking and gathering at the point as a bowstring followed the movement of his arm. Keith released the arrow before switching hands and bent backward to aim at the bot coming up behind him, another arrow already forming as he drew the string back and released. The raven didn't even wait to see if he hit his mark before bolting for the barrier he had been taking behind originally. 

 

Lance's smile faded. Keith activated a new segment in his bayard and to top it off it was a bow and arrow no less.

_ ‘Looks like we have another sharpshooter on board.’ _

No, this was wrong, Lance should be happy for the guy right? But guns and aiming and..  _ being  _ the sharpshooter was the only thing Lance had. If Keith could master long range then what did Voltron need from him?

The arrow connected with the bots and it slipped into the ground. The final bot approached cautiously but quickly, keeping heavy fire on Keith's solid cover. Once close enough the bot flipped over the rock and aimed, shooting a blank pellet at Keith's back before it landed on the ground. The voice from before came back, "Training level ten, failed. Better luck next time Paladin." The holographic terrain broke itself down, the solid forms of cover disappeared back into the floor.

 

"Quiznak!" Keith cursed as the blank pushed him to the ground, landing heavily on his stomach and knocking the breath out of him. The raven groaned and rolled to lay on his back, bayard deactivated and falling uselessly to the floor as he panted for air.

Keith closed his eyes and simply laid on the floor, "Remind me to never use that setting again," he complained, almost whining.

 

Lance remained on the railing, not bothering to move a muscle with his chin rested in the palm of his hand, eyes narrowed in on Keith, "I asked if you wanted to see how it’s done but nooo.. Mister hot shot here wanted to do it himself."

He couldn’t mask the bitter tone in his voice, hell he wished he could but he doubted Keith would fall for such a fake sounding tone.

 

"You can show me next time," the shorter teen said and tilted his head back so he could look at Lance, a confused frown forming on his face as he caught onto the bitter tone. Honestly, the raven wasn't sure why the brunet's tone was like that, "Also just wake me up for breakfast in the morning, I don't think I can move to my room." He admitted, feeling a little light headed.

 

Lance tilted his head curiously and raised an eyebrow, "dude that level wasn’t even that hard. How are you dying at this point?" he asked as he hopped off the railing, landing on the ground with a soft thump before strolling over to him, hands in his pockets, "also congrats on the new weapons hot shot."

 

"Thanks I think? But man, I was fine until my bayard changed forms, I didn't really notice it with the first shot, but definitely after the second one I felt weaker, like I was suddenly out of breath for no reason and my limbs felt heavy," Keith explained, well tried to anyways as his eyebrows furrowed.

 

Lance peered down at Keith, "looks like a question for Allura and Coran. Mainly Coran. He seems to know most things." he said as he helped Keith stand up.

 

Keith gave a weak smile and picked up his bayard on the way up before holding a hand to his head as he grunted, "What the hell...? Just give me a minute and I'll get out of your space,” he said and let out a sigh.

 

Lance held onto Keith's shoulders, making sure he didn't fall, "uh do you want me to come with you to your room? In case you pass out on the way?" he asked with a worried frown.

 

"I don't want to burden you, besides you need to get all the rest you can before the mission tomorrow," Keith responded, a  _ very _ roundabout way of saying 'yes please,' without actually saying it because of his pride.

 

The Cuban rolled his eyes and grabbed Keith's hand, "come on, our rooms are practically next to each other. I can walk you there." he said and shut off the training regime. He pulled Keith to the door tentatively, not going too fast or too slow. The lights shut themselves off when the door closed and locked. "Besides you'll get lost on the way back."

 

Keith followed and offered a tired grin, "Thanks, Lance," he cooed and used his free hand to rub his eyes, "you aren't wrong. I probably would get lost."

 

"It's... Like a hundred percent chance of you getting lost, yes." he said and guided him down the series of hallways and into the elevator. They took it back down and exited, Lance once again leading Keith back to the rooms.

 

Keith absently nodded and didn't even bother trying to remember the way to Lance's secret room; there were too many turns to take to get there. The raven glanced down at their connected hands, not saying anything because honestly, it felt nice, holding hands with Lance, being able to feel the heat from the Cuban's skin.

 

Lance paused in front of Keith's room and opened the door for him, he hesitated for a moment before reluctantly letting Keith's hand go, "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

 

Keith turned to look at Lance after the door opened, violet eyes pretty clear with his emotions, and even if asked, he honestly didn't even register the almost dejected whimper that left his throat as the brunet let go of his hand, "yeah, goodnight Lance, see ya in the morning," he said before covering his mouth as he yawned, flashing a tired smile before wandering into his room and effectively face planting his bed before the door of the room even closed.

 

Once the door shut Lance returned to his own room, changing into a warmer set of clothing before crawling into bed for the night.

Morning came quite suddenly, Lance being the last to arrive of course, despite him going on this mission. His excuse? Beauty takes time to cultivate. The trio who volunteered for the mission loaded up into the green lion and snuck aboard the target ship. 

So far the mission was successful. Only a handful of guards needed to be wiped out on the way and no alarm was triggered. Pidge activated her bayard and slammed it into the floor, "okay Keith cut a large enough hole around my bayard so we can feed Lance through, we'll tug the portion of the floor you cut so it won’t fall through the other side."

 

Keith slept rather soundly through the night, though jumped awake at around four in the morning, from what he wasn't sure, but he was up and wide awake. Therefore he took a quick shower and changed into clean clothes, before hitting the training deck, deciding to try his luck against two bots instead of just one.

Once breakfast rolled around he quite the program and met the rest of the team in the dining area for a quick summary of the mission before changing into the paladin armor and boarding the green lion.

Keith nodded in understanding of the instructions given to him and did as told, bayard sparking to life in his hand before he looked up at Lance to roughly gauge his size, then proceeded to cut the size hole needed around Pidge's bayard. The circle was a little rough, but it would have to do considering it was really their only option. 

 

Lance and Pidge pulled back the cut out portion using Pidge's bayard. After setting it to the side Lance peered down into the hole, raising an eyebrow at the sleeping form of a Galra general, the flash drive sitting on the nightstand next to the bed.

He turned to Keith with a frown, "You let go of my legs and I will cut off your mullet, you hear me?" he whispered low enough for the Red Paladin to hear him before he dropped onto his stomach. Lance didn’t move until Keith grabbed both of his legs, slowly he lowered himself into the hole above the bed of the Galran general.

His tongue poked out subconsciously as he concentrated on not waking the general and reaching far enough to not topple Keith over. Pidge would of done it but her short stature and her ability to avoid reckless behavior put her at a disadvantage. And it wasn’t like Keith was going to sacrifice an arm for research for him.

Lance reached over and managed to grab the flash drive, nearly dropping it on the floor but he recovered quickly. Lance looked at the Galra and cautiously ran his fingers through the short fur between the alien's ears, half surprised to hear a low rumble of a purr. This was it. Probably the only solid proof that Keith was possibly an alien- which made sense. The guy was out of this world gorgeous. Lance pulled his hand back with a small, "heh", just in time to see the Galran's eyes jerk open. The Blue Paladin shrieked and looked up toward the hole, "pull me up! Pull me up!" he looked back down just in time for a claw to rake across his cheek and for Keith to yank him up.

 

Keith rolled his eyes as he took ahold of Lance's legs, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Don't let go, got it," he sassed back quietly as he lowered Lance down the hole, being careful to keep his footing during the whole thing.The raven watched around Lance as best he could, though he was surprised that they had yet to set off any sort of alarm. 

At the sudden shriek from the brunet, Keith was quick to pull the Blue Paladin out of the hole, violet eyes wide with worry when he caught sight of the claw marks and the scent of blood, "Pidge, take Lance and get back to the Lion. I'll close up the hole and provide some cover," he said. 

 

Lance crawled far enough away from the hole to stand up, flash drive secured in one hand while the other used the wall to help stabilize his footing. Pidge whipped her head around and frowned, "wait what about you!? We have no time to cover the hol- Ack!" The Galra reached up through the hole and snatched the air with a growl, "get back here!" Pidge whipped back around and began to push on Lance's back toward their exit, "hurry the heck up Keith!"

 

"Just go! I'll catch up," he responded before his attention was turned to the arm reached through the hole. Violet eyes narrowed angrily as Keith grabbed ahold of the arm and bent it the wrong way, a vicious snarl leaving his throat, "Hurt him again and I'll have your head on a silver platter," Keith threatened before using his bayard to stab into the Galra's shoulder, effectively incapacitating that arm. He wasn't sure where this protective streak was coming from, nor did the raven care as he put the metal covering back in place before bolting after the Blue and Green Paladins

 

Pidge and Lance both made it to the green lion in record time. The Green Paladin tossing Lance the makeshift first aid kit, grumbling about blood on the floor. Lance glanced from the box back to the windshield of Green, watching for any movement when he caught sight of red and white armor, "Pidge! There! Scoop him up and let’s go!" She didn’t need to be told twice as she maneuvered Green around the hole and practically devoured Keith.

Lance was by his side in minutes, the kit all but forgotten as well as the fresh set of marks on his cheek, "dude! Are you okay!?"

 

Keith panted lightly as he crouched inside the Green Lion. He looked up and a confused frown marred his face, "I'm fine, just had to take care of something, why haven't you bandaged your cheek yet?" He asked before standing and tugging Lance towards the abandoned first aid kit.

"Sit," he said before kneeling next to the Blue Paladin and gently began cleaning the claw marks, wiping them free of blood and disinfecting them before carefully bandaging Lance's cheek. 

 

"Because I was wor-" Lance closed his mouth, he was just about to say that he was worried for the other and that would of probably lead to teasing of the highest degree. Especially from Pidge, "I forgot.. Yeah I forgot. It doesn't even hurt." But he followed Keith and did as told, sitting cross legged and letting Keith clean, disinfect which did hurt like hell, and bandage the two claw marks. One under his eye and the other under his cheekbone.

He didn’t speak until Keith was finished, not wanting to mess him up, "why the heck did you want to patch up that hole? Keith that was super dumb. You could of just ran with us."

 

The raven rolled his eyes at his teammates forgetfulness, murmuring soft apologies when Lance would wince from the pain.

He flushed slightly and gave a half hearted shrug, "Lets just say that general will be down to one arm for a little while, besides when do I not do something dumb on a mission?"

 

Lance heaved a sigh, he couldn’t really say much considering he woke up the general by petting the guy. Pidge broke up their little moment and pulled into the hanger, Allura warping the Castle of Lions out of the area before the fighters could descend upon them.

They exited the lion and Lance tossed the girl the flash drive with a grin, "you guys think my cheek will get scars? Oo would I look cool?"

 

Keith shook his head with a slight laugh, "Even if you do get scars I highly doubt they will make you look any cooler," he teased and playfully nudged Lance's shoulder as he passed by on his way out of Green's hanger.

 

Lance pouted as he watched Keith walk ahead of him, crossing his arms before he followed, "Okay then I'll just be  _ ruggedly _ handsome. Give me an boost on my bad boy charm." he grinned.

 

"You have no charm, especially not a 'bad boy' one," Keith chimed and spared a glance back at Lance, violet eyes bright with amusement.

 

Lance placed a hand on his hip and smirked, raising an eyebrow, "oh yeah? Then why don’t you teach me to be bad, Mr. Bad Boy?" Pidge nearly choked on her own saliva which drug Lance out of those pools of violet and walked past Keith with a hum, giving the Red Paladin a quick wink before exiting the hanger.

 

The Red Paladin had quite literally frozen midstep as his eyes widened and face flooded with a dark blush as he watched Lance go, heart racing in his chest. It took a few moments before he was able to get himself together in which he helplessly looked at Pidge and gestured to where Lance had disappeared, "D-did he just- Was that-- What?!" Keith squeaked out in confusion.

 

Pidge doubled over and cackled, pointing at Keith, "oh my god you're so red!!" She raised up and covered her mouth in a sad attempt to muffle her laughter and talk at the same time, "gotta say, that one was good, right Keith?"

On the other side of the door Lance stormed down the hall in a panic, face ablaze and heart beating a mile a minute. He got caught up in the moment, caught up in his own desire and let it slip! Sure it was funny and all but he.. He wasn’t supposed to flirt with guys, right? His Papà made that very clear- wait why was he still hung up about that? His Papà was gone. He couldn't hurt him anymore.

Lance shuddered and hugged himself, entering his room without a sound. The fear was still real. And there was a good chance Keith was as straight as an arrow or at least not even interested in a two-bit pilot like himself.

 

"Pidge shut your quiznak!" Keith cried out and lunged at the poor girl, "it was good but that is not the point," he agreed quietly after failing to catch the Green Paladin in such a flustered state.

The raven was more flustered than he could ever remember being, but his heart was fluttering happily in his chest and a swarm of butterflies plagued his stomach. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with flirts being tossed his way. Sure, he had always dreamed of possibly being the target of some guy's affections, but it hurt something fierce to remind himself that Lance was only joking and had no interest in him.

 

Pidge cackled as she ran out of the room, pausing to look back at the flustered teen, "You aren’t using that word correctly, Mr. Bad Boy!" Then she booked it back to the bridge where the rest of their team waited, laughter echoing the halls.

The door to the bridge slid open, the flash drive plugged into the ship's computer system and Pidge and Hunk looking over its contents. Allura and Shiro stood by each other and made idle conversation while Lance (changed into his usual clothes) sat in his chair, fiddling with a cube Coran gave him while the ginger Altean looked at the two gashes on his cheek. The brunet froze when he saw the familiar red jacket and black hair out of his peripheral. Coran raised a concerned eyebrow that drew the boy back, forcibly relaxing his body and shake his head. Coran was like a dotting uncle on their ship, he was nosy and downright friendly but was a little creepy and held no real boundaries but he knew when not to push, not to poke or prod. One of the reasons why Lance liked the guy, his lips quirked into a small smile, reassuring the Altean.

Lance fiddled with the device in his hands again, replaying the scene back at the hanger over again. What he did felt wrong, but also felt right. It was.. Confusing. Here was this perfect man who Lance works with; side by side. Who literally sleeps ten feet away from his bedroom. His heart says one thing but his mind and anxiety say another.

Shiro looked over at the Red Paladin and smiled, "Good job out there. Glad you all made it back."

 

Keith had half a mind to run after Pidge, a shout for her to stop laughing dying before it even left his throat as the Red Paladin made his way to his room to change. Both to give his  _ blush _ time to cool down and go away as well as to get out of his paladin armor and into his more casual, comfortable clothes.

The raven made his way back to the bridge, running his fingers through his hair as he crossed the doorway and made a beeline for his chair. Violet eyes glanced over at Lance, and Keith could feel the heat start to gather in his cheeks once more as the line from earlier seemed to play on a mental loop in his head.

At the sound of Shiro's voice, the raven looked up, nodded in thanks and offered the barest hints of a smile in return - really it was barely an upturn of his lips. Keith was already on the verge of zoning out before any possible discussion had even began, really he was just too caught up in his emotions at the moment - not that he would let the team know that.

 

Pidge ran the data through the data processing system on her laptop, it would take a good couple of hours to crack the code alone. Allura smiled at crossed her arms, "while you three were gone we picked up a distress call and on our way to their location now." Lance looked over at the princess once Coran was finished putting a sealing ointment on the two gashes. "That is correct! It'll give you all an hour of rest!" the gingered male fingered his mustache and smiled cheerily.

* * *

 

"Guys its a trap! The Galr- that's Zarkon's ship!!" Hunk exclaimed through the comms as Yellow narrowly dodged an incoming fighter jet. Zarkon's ship exited through a wormhole, descending upon the Castle of Lions and the paladins. Lance steered Blue away from the ship, it was too close for comfort and it looked like the ion canon was charging.

 

Violet eyes widened in shock and the slightest hint of fear as he quickly jerked Red out of the way of incoming fighter pilots. Keith had been relatively close to the Galra wormhole that had opened up out of nowhere and was currently hightailing it out of the direct descent path of Zarkon's ship.

The raven honestly was not all that surprised to suddenly be flocked by a swarm of fighter jets, but he was shocked that the fleet that targeted him had the Red Lion surrounded to the point where he was practically stuck. Keith was playing a dodge and shoot game at this point, doing his best to keep Red from taking too much damage while also taking out as many jets as he could, but the raven had his back to Zarkon's ship -honestly a terrible thing to do really- too focused on his current targets to see the ion cannon charging up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. :)

**Author's Note:**

> All comments and kudos are appreciated :)


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